Podcast with Jelena Petković: Journalistic ethics as a fundamental responsibility – respect for the code every day regardless of topic and occasion
(Source: Radio Kontakt Plus) The new report of the Press Council of Serbia, ethnic distance when it comes to the media in Kosovo, and the issue of kidnapped, missing and murdered journalists in Kosovo – are the topics we discussed with journalist Jelena Petkovic – a member of the International Press Institute, but also the Complaints Commission of the Press Council of Serbia.
According to the latest report of the Press Council of Serbia, from July 1, 2023 to the end of last year, the Council noted that the Code of Journalists of Serbia was violated a total of 5,551 times, that the media in the majority remained silent about what was negative for the authorities, that in defaming the opposition, anonymous social media accounts were used as sources, and that the writing about show business has spread to a circle of people for whom we do not even know what they do. The champion in terms of the number of violations during the year was the newspaper Alo.
When asked what the fact that almost 6,000 violations of the journalistic code have been recorded tells us, Petkovic explains that this can be interpreted as both good and bad news.
“It’s a good thing that this number hasn’t grown significantly. The bad one, of course, is that it is still high, i.e. that there is no reduction”, said Petkovic, recalling that it was a report that was made on the basis of media monitoring during the election campaign.
She adds that the first chapter of the code – truthfulness in reporting – was violated to the greatest extent:
“Among the negative examples of reporting, colleagues pointed out the articles about the mass murder in the Belgrade elementary school Vladislav Ribnikar that took place in May last year and that entire series about a juvenile killer appeared in the media with topics that were not in public interests and that disturbed a large number of citizens.”
According to our monitoring, the newspaper Alo leads the way when it comes to disinformation on the issue of Kosovo, on the other hand, disinformation is especially dangerous in times of tension.
“It can really lead to a public perception that can support wrong and dangerous policies,” Petkovic commented.
“Disinformation can also spread fear and hatred and in some situations it can even induce some individuals to commit violence which can negatively affect the entire community.”
We also referred to the recent article of our interlocutor “Ethnic bias in the media – pouring gasoline on the grill” in which she states that media fog and selective reporting are a well-known mainstream matrix of reporting about tragedies and crises in Kosovo.
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