20. 11. 2014

MEDIA COALITION GUIDELINES FOR ONLINE JOURNALISM

Among the recommendations presented during the discussion at the Belgrade Media Centre is the one saying that the media should not carry any material or statements without authors' prior consent, although this does not apply to public personalities and information of public interest.

Commenting this recommendation, vice president of the Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS) Zoran Stanojević said that everything published on social networks is public information.

Professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade Miroljub Radojković was of opinion that it is not sufficiently clear what the aim of the presented recommendations is having in mind the existing recommendations in the Journalists' Codex. He stated that he disagrees with the recommendation that the views of journalists expressed on social networks influence the reputation of media outlets where they work. "Journalists are ordinary citizens in their free time", explained the professor.

Representatives of the OSCE Mission in Serbia e-mailed their contribution during the discussion and stressed that all the advice already applied to journalism in Serbia should be valid in the online sphere.

One of the ten recommendations is that every online newsroom should have clearly defined rules for user comments to media content in order to prevent hate speech or discrimination.

The ethical guidelines advise journalists to have in mind that their statements on social networks and other internet platforms may influence their professional reputation.

Journalists should not carry rumors, but they should publish only accurate information, verified with at least two independent sources.

Photographs and video footage should not be modified in a manner that changes the meaning or context, and it is necessary to provide links to sources.

When it turns out that published information is inaccurate, a journalist is obliged to provide a correction as soon as possible.

Media Coalition members are: the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS), Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS), Independent Journalists' Association of Vojvodina (NDNV), Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) and Local Press.