The Press Council Promoted the Handbook “Implementation of the New Provisions of the Serbian Journalists’ Code of Ethics through the Practice of the Press Council Complaints Commission”

(Source: Fonet/NUNS) The most significant addition to the Serbian Journalists’ Code of Ethics is the new chapter relating to respect for dignity, since privacy and dignity had previously been covered under the same provision, but it turned out that this was not the best solution, stated yesterday the Secretary General of the Press Council, Gordana Novaković.

At the promotion of the new handbook “Implementation of the New Provisions of the Serbian Journalists’ Code of Ethics through the Practice of the Press Council Complaints Commission,” Gordana Novaković said that practice had shown there was no provision directly prohibiting (smear) campaigns against individuals, which had frequently occurred in previous years.

A new provision within the Respect for Dignity section also prohibits continuous malicious reporting about individuals, as well as reporting on victims of accidents, children, persons with disabilities, the LGBT population, and minority groups.

According to her, a new provision was also introduced prohibiting journalists from reporting from funerals, except in cases involving highly prominent public figures.

“We have also introduced rules for the use of content created through artificial intelligence and more precise rules for the use of content from social networks. We had some of this in the guidelines we previously developed regarding the implementation of the old Code, but these are now provisions formally incorporated into the Code,” said Gordana Novaković.

She stated that the aim of the changes concerning journalists’ responsibility is to strengthen editors’ responsibility for all media content they publish, while also emphasizing the independence of editors and journalists from political or economic influence that could result in ethically unacceptable reporting.

“The provisions relating to hate speech have also been strengthened. This existed in the previous Code as well, but it is now defined more precisely — prohibiting not only the language of hatred, but also the aggressive rhetoric in the media that could encourage aggressive behavior,” explained Gordana Novaković.

The handbook presents cases reviewed by the Complaints Commission from January to October of last year, relating to the continuous violation of reputation and harm inflicted on individuals, namely media campaigns against people, the prohibition of hate speech and rhetoric that may encourage aggressive behavior, and the obligation of journalists not to subordinate their responsibility to the public to anyone’s interests.

Gordana Novaković also pointed out that the number of complaints submitted to the Press Council was particularly notable in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as last year because of student and civic protests.

She also highlighted a new trend involving the simultaneous publication of identical texts across multiple media outlets, often with completely identical headlines, despite lacking both value and journalistic form.

“And we are truly in a rather difficult situation now, because through the Code we are expected to deal with something that is not actually journalistic text at all, and to decide on violations of the Code regarding something that has nothing to do with journalism,” said Gordana Novaković.

She added that violations of the Code are increasingly being recorded in political and social affairs sections, and less frequently in the “traditionally problematic” sections such as crime reporting and entertainment.

In addition to Gordana Novaković, the authors of the Handbook are journalists Vera Didanović and Tamara Skrozza.