The Faculty of Political Sciences has marginalized the subject of Media Ethics at a time when it has become not only a journalistic but also a social issue.
(Source: Cenzolovka) In an era of mass dissemination of disinformation and propaganda, which leads to political upheaval, as well as catastrophic reporting on violence against children, women, dissenters, or marginalized groups, resulting in social conflicts, ethical issues in the media have been at the forefront for years, both in Serbia and globally. Simultaneously, at the largest department for journalism, at the Faculty of Political Sciences, ethics is no longer a mandatory subject.
The same year the Press Council reported that the Code of Journalists was violated 5,715 times in daily newspapers in the last six months of 2021, ethics was marginalized at the oldest department for journalism.
Violations of the Code of Journalists in the reporting of pro-regime tabloids and television stations have become everyday occurrences, often brutal.
At the same time, as our interlocutors remind us, the media promotes violence in society, and information in a large portion of the media has turned into support for the authorities, with organized campaigns against its critics.
Despite this, journalism students at the Faculty of Political Sciences (FPN), as they told us, do not have the opportunity to often discuss ethical issues in reporting on mass crimes, children, or vulnerable social groups.
We were unable to find out what the professors at the Department of Journalism have to say about this. We were shuffled from one person to another – from the heads of departments to professors and assistant professors.
Negligence and thoughtlessness in curriculum design
Here’s what current and former students have to say.
Nikolina Bonić and Milica Perić, who enrolled in journalism in 2022, emphasize that journalism subjects suffer due to the heavy presence of political science subjects.
“It’s absurd that we have to choose between journalism subjects, and that needs to change. It’s a mistake that ethics isn’t mandatory. We see the consequences of this every day. Ethics should not only be a mandatory subject, but it should also permeate all other subjects. This all indicates negligence and thoughtlessness in the curriculum design,” says Nikolina Bonić for Cenzolovka.
“Subjects are disorganized and poorly distributed. Every year, we have at least two subjects that are not mandatory – but should be,” adds Perić.
Bonić notes that a particularly important problem is that the knowledge gained from political science subjects is more valued. The same knowledge, adds Perić, is of little use in the practical work of journalists.
Political science professors have a decisive say in the creation of journalism programs. They make up most of the teaching staff, so even professors who teach journalism are dissatisfied with the status of their subjects.
The former editor of Danas online and N1, a recent member of the Complains Commission of the Press Council, and a doctoral candidate at the Faculty of Political Sciences, Bojan Cvejić, says that many of the mandatory subjects currently at the Faculty of Political Sciences are much less useful than Media Ethics, which should be the foundation for practicing journalism.
“On one hand, it is good that media ethics has been included as an elective subject in journalism studies at the Faculty of Political Sciences, considering that a few years ago it wasn’t even offered to students at this faculty. Given the importance of journalistic ethics and the increasing disregard for ethical and professional standards in the media in Serbia, Media Ethics should be a mandatory subject that students take in their first year of study,” stated Cvejić.
According to him, the importance of ethics is also reflected in the fact that a large number of media in the world, and in recent years in Serbia, are developing internal codes of ethics for their employees. These documents are being used more and more frequently at all levels, in line with the new challenges facing modern journalism. Especially with the use of artificial intelligence.
Retired professor of the Faculty of Political Science Snježana Milivojević states that in 2022 the study program at the Faculty of Political Sciences was significantly changed, but ethics should retain the status of a compulsory subject, and that “the Faculty of Political Science is certainly considering the consequences of this decision”.
Milivojević says that it is possible for students to acquire the necessary knowledge of ethics through other subjects, because ethical postulates are inseparable from the profession.
Although our everyday life is filled with sensationalist headlines, texts aimed at propaganda and direct degradation of a person, and then everything else that reality programs bring us, Professor Snježana Milivojević points out that professional journalists are not to blame for this.
“It is not the tabloids or reality programs that are scandalous here because journalists in Serbia are worse than in other countries, but because such content has been politically and financially supported for a decade. Where the media are trapped, and the profession is not free, those who adhere to ethical norms are an important and bright minority, but they cannot stop the decline,” says Milivojevic.
Assistant professor at the Faculty of Journalism at the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad, lecturer at the Novi Sad School of Journalism and editor-in-chief of the Fake News Tracker, Stefan Janjić, says that Media Ethics is a compulsory subject at his faculty, and students can additionally choose a course in Bioethics and Media. Media ethics, he says, is an integral part of other journalistic subjects.
“I am also engaged in the compulsory course Reporting on the Other, where we spend the entire semester dealing with the principles of ethical reporting on vulnerable groups. If I take into account my other subjects, I will say that those classes are extremely rare in which we do not discuss at least some ethical dilemma. Although I believe that it is important that Journalistic Ethics exists as a separate subject, I believe that ethical issues can be well covered through other subjects”, says Janjić.
During the first two years of study, at the Faculty of Political Sciences, students touch on ethics only in certain subjects, whether it is memorizing the members of the Journalists’ Code of Ethics of Serbia or studying professionalism as a category of the media system. Examples of violations of the Code, which are daily, do not provide many opportunities to discuss.
“It’s important that we talk about ethics. Sometimes, in the process, we will experience a cathartic moment, when we look at an example of unprofessional content and promise ourselves that we will never publish anything like this. That cathartic moment can also occur when someone explains to us in an eloquent, memorable and illustrative way why a certain media practice is inadmissible. Such sentences are etched in our memory, and, unlike the printed edition of the Journalists’ Code of of Serbia, they are always at hand,” says Janjić.
“In addition to traditional and digital, we now also get synthetic media in which ethical questions are posed in a new way. They are becoming more relevant and important for studying than ever before, because young people still in their studies must prepare for an environment in which they will have ethical answers to technological challenges as media workers, but also as users and citizens”, says Snježana Milivojević.
Ana Martinoli, a professor at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts and a member of the Press Council’s Complaints Committee, says that ethical behavior should be woven into every segment of journalism, but it is often on the margins for the sake of profit and market success.
“Ethics is learned not only by adopting theoretical principles, but also through everyday practice, when reality exercises and motivates us to make decisions that will be in the interest of citizens, and not economic or political options. On the other hand, media workers must or can be held responsible for unethical behavior not only by the law or (self-) regulation, but also by the media-literate, critical, informed and mature public. The fight for ethics in the media takes place on several fronts – from schools to newsrooms, from newsrooms to every single citizen,” Martinoli said. …