The Journalists’ Code was violated almost three thousand times during the state of emergency

The six most visited online media outlets in Serbia violated the Journalists’ Code as many as 2,829 times in just three months, according to the results of the monitoring, which was conducted from the beginning of April to the end of June this year. This period coincides with the most severe corona virus attack and the ban on movement, when many citizens received information almost exclusively through online media.

The largest number of violations was recorded in the chapter on the truthfulness of reporting, then on the privacy, dignity and integrity of persons who are reported on, and in the chapter on journalistic responsibility, it was said at yesterday’s press conferenec organzed by the Press Council, where the research results were presented.

Every day for 12 hours, the researchers followed the news on six news portals – Srbija Danas, Telegraf, Espresso, B92, Mondo and 021. The news was monitored in the period from 8 am to 8 pm for violations of the  Journalist’s Code of Ethics and Guidelines for implementation of the Journalist’s Code of Ethics in the online environment.

“We have chosen the online media in Serbia that have the highest traffic,” said Aleksandra Grigorov, who presented the results of the research at the UNS Press Center in Belgrade. “News that have been found to be an indisputable violation of the Code and the Guidelines have been singled out, with an explanation of which article of the Code or the Guidelines has been violated,” she added.

The monitoring of online media was organized for the second time according to the methodology that was made in cooperation with the University of Belgrade in 2017, when the first, trial, research was conducted. Monitoring was realized within the project “Building trust in the media in Southeast Europe and Turkey – phase two”, which was supported by the European Commission and UNESCO.

The results of online media monitoring for individual media can be downloaded from the Press Council website:  http://www.savetzastampu.rs/latinica/monitoring-postovanja-kodeksa-novinara-srbije/131/2020/09/30/2353/rezultati-monitoringa-postovanja-kodeksa-novinara-od-aprila-do-juna-2020_godine-.html

The Press Council is an independent, self-regulatory body that brings together publishers, print, online media and news agency owners, and professional journalists. It was established to monitor compliance with the Journalist’s Code of Ethics in print and online media, as well as in news agencies, and to resolve complaints from individuals and institutions about the content of those media. The Press Council is engaged in the education of media professional to act in accordance with the Journalist’s Code of Ethics and works to strengthen the role of media in Serbia.