Press Council: In 2020, 163 complaints were received, the Code was violated in 3,724 texts

(Source: Novi magazin) Secretary of the Press Council Gordana Novaković said that the Complaints Commission received 163 complaints during 2020, which is the largest number of complaints so far.

Novakovic said at the video conference today that the members of the Commission reviewed 118 complaints and that in “only 16 cases” they decided that the Journalist’s Code of Ethics of Serbia was not violated.

According to her, 16 complaints were resolved through mediation – which is a decrease compared to previous years, and she assessed that this does not show the readiness of dailies to respect the Code.

Tamara Skroza, a member of the Press Council, said that eight dailies with national coverage violated the Code of Journalists of Serbia in 3,724 texts.

Skroza said that the most violations were “in the first, fourth and seventh chapters, ie in the chapters concerning the truthfulness of reporting, discrimination and the presumption of innocence and protection of privacy.”

Journalist Vera Didanović and Skroza agreed that Danas and Politika were “a good example of reporting” and that violations of the Code were rare.

Skroza said that the Serbian Telegraph, which in previous years was a “champion in violating the Code”, was “only in fifth place” last year.

As she said, the newspaper Blic had a small number of violations, but she stated that the Complaints Commission received two reports during 2020 against the writing of that newspaper.

The first complaint was from the family of the four-year-old boy, because Blic journalists “persecuted the family” to get information.

Skroza assessed that it was harassment of people who are going through a severe tragedy.

The second complaint was due to the front page, on which a photo of a person who was “not a participant in the story” was placed on the front page.

She stated that although Blic had reduced violations of the Code in previous years, they could not be considered professional enough – due to complaints