Transcript Ethical Self-Control of Print Media in Slovakia Report presented at

Ethical Self-Control of Print Media in Slovakia
Report presented at the Congress of Latvian
Journalists
Riga, September 22, 2007
Dr Andrej Školkay
[email protected]
Member of the Press Council of Slovakia
www. trsr.sk
WHY ETHICS?
What is not forbidden by a law,
it is forbidden by shame
Seneca
•
Who Should Decide?
(Human Factor)
• All journalists - current
•
- former
•
- mixture
• All „Semi-celebrities“ – famous and/or
respected public professionals,...
• Combination: semi-celebrities plus journalists
• Alternative A: retired senior editors and
respected commentators, one or two recognised
media experts,a philosopher, a lawyer
• Alternative B: your choice....
The Slovak Case:
(Professional Background)
Painter
Two lawyers (one of them judge)
Historian
Psychiatrist
Journalist/novelist
Media expert/political scientist
Lawyers are not always bad...
Č.j.: ………./2006.
ROZHODNUTIE
Tlačová rada Slovenskej republiky v zložení Miroslav Cipár – predseda,
Zuzana Ďurišová – podpredseda a členovia Ivan Kamenec, Peter Kerecman,
Gabriela Rothmayerová a Andrej Školkay vo veci vedenej pod por.č. ......./2006
na zasadnutí dňa 1.7.2006 o sťažnosti
The 7 Members
The Czech Commision for Ethics of the Syndicate of
Journalists of the Czech Republic
• mostly journalists who still work in the
media
• 11 members
COMPARISON I.
The Slovak system
The Czech system
• more focused on external
members
•
• more democratic in its
organisation
• more monocratic in its
organisation
• more focused on personnel
stability of its body
• more dynamic in circulation
of its members
• Less frequent meetings
• More frequent meetings
more focused on practical
journalistic experience of its
members
COMPARISON II.
• deals only with the print
media and issues related to
acces to information for all
journalists and,
occasionally, if there is
complaint on unethical
behaviour of a journalist in
general
• deals with all the media
• Right to initiate process
• Right to initiate process
• Consensual decision-making
by all members, or voting by
all members (no single
expertise)
• Delegative and postponed
decsion-making
CONTROVERSIES
• External Analyses/Experts
•
(1. case - of motivation of a journalist and 2. case - moral standards of the society)
• Activism vs. Passivism
•
(in particular public educational role, but also complaints submitted by e-mail, et)
BAD/WRONG DECISIONS
• „Open Letters“
• /VOTUM
SEPARATUM/
(regional press)
• A lawyer, candidate
for a Constitutional
Court, and article in
daily saying that his
participation as
advisor for company
involved in financial
“pyramide games”
was not O.K.
ETHICS IS NOT EASY
Moral rules should be carefully evaluated and
balanced, if we cannot keep them all at once.
Ethical thinking cannot be replaced by any
universal criterion and it is a sign of moral
advancement.
Paul Kurtz, Forbidden Fruit: The Ethics of
Humanism,1998
ETHICS CAN BE EASY
• While solving ethical dillemas it is necessary to use
rational thinking.
• It is always possible to explain and justify examptions
from rule.
• Whether we are oblidged to do anything in particular
situation depends on circumstances.
• We should always ask ourselves if an old or a new moral
rule does or does not contradicts our customs to which
we adhere.
Paul Kurtz, Forbidden Fruit: The Ethics of Humanism,1998