07. 05. 2005

MEDIA COUNCIL: STANDARDS STILL BEING VIOLATED

BELGRADE, May 7, 2005 – “Violations of professional standards and ethics had been noted in the print media in Serbia in April, 2005. The majority of the offending articles were run in the Kurir and Srpski Nacional newspapers. Glas Javnosti, Blic and Politika have violated the standards of the profession in lesser extent, while the least such cases were noted in Vecernje Novosti and Danas”, said Dragan Janjic, editor-in-chief of the News Agency Beta and reporter of the Media Center’s Media Council. Janic further explained that the rules were most commonly violated in the articles, adding that half of the texts published in dailies have been using anonymous sources, or the author of the article himself as their only source of the information. According to Janjic, half-truths, campaigns targeting individuals or political and other groups based on half-truths, harangues against political opponents, the use of vulgar language and untruths still characterize a part of the Serbian press.