Belgrade Center for Human Rights: The Press Council protects citizens from hate speech on the Internet

The Belgrade Center for Human Rights published a study called “Anonymous hate, hate speech protection mechanisms on the Internet”, which concluded, among other things, that a complaint to the Press Council “can be an effective mechanism since the forbidden speech is removed from the public space”.

In the section on “Protection against hate speech before the Press Council”, the authors point out: “By inspecting the practice so far, it can be concluded that the Press Council showed a high level of sensitivity in determining the violation of the Journalist’s Code of Ethics (Articles IV and V) when it comes to the dangers of discriminatory attitudes that are published in the media and in the protection of the equal right of citizens. The credibility gained by the Council in its work so far is reflected in the fact that state bodies refer to its decisions when providing the rationale for their (own) decisions or attitudes. Also, it should be noted that it is a body that seeks to align its actions and interpretation of the provisions of the Code with contemporary challenges of the digital age, which undoubtedly greatly influence the work of the media. Good examples are the aforementioned The Guidelines for implementation of the Journalist’s Code of Ethics for the online environment as well as the Handbook for Adapting to the Needs of Online Media. “

The Belgrade Center also points out that the decision of the Complaints Commission about that organization`s complaint is of great importance because, for the first time in Serbia, a body in its decision pointed out that there was media responsibility for the contents that were published on their other channels of communication (which are not the portal itself) .

Publication of “Anonymous hate, hate speech protection mechanisms on the Internet”

http://www.bgcentar.org.rs/bgcentar/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Anonimna-mrznja-FINAL-S.pdf