In pursuit of sensations and shocking details that would attract more visitors to websites and TV channels, the Moldovan media outlets violate their protagonists’ right to a private and family life, representatives of civil society said in the public debate “Right to private life in the mass media”, IPN reports. The event was organized by the Press Council of Moldova and the Association of Independent Press (API).
API executive director Petru Macovei said there are many cases when the mass media violate the deontological norms and the legal provisions when it is about the private and family life of persons. “Regrettably, many of our colleagues resort to flagrant violations of the right to a private and family life,” he stated. According to him, in a recent case, a TV channel with national coverage broadcast a feature where the right to a private and family life was violated. “Probably wanting to increase their rating, some of our colleagues ignore the professional deontology and do not think enough about the rights of other persons about whom they relate,” said the secretary of the Press Council.
He also said that if the media outlets do not understand that the right to private life, as other human rights, is holy, the legislation will probably have to be toughened up. “We do not want the laws to be toughened up as the journalists do not want harsher laws that would penalize them for any violation. That’s why we should understand that the human rights must be respected and every protagonist of the journalistic material must be treated with care so that we do not cause more harm,” stated Petru Macovei.
Press Council head Ludmila Andronic said the public discussion started namely from that feature broadcast by the TV channel. The public opinion, Internet community and civil society reacted appropriately and issued a statement by which the TV channel was boycotted and requested to offer public apologies during prime time, within the first feature of the news bulletin.
Attending the event, the director of the Legal Resources Center Vlad Gribincea said that for the journalists to avoid such situations and to get used to respecting the right to private life, each of the media outlets should regulate the activity at internal level.
The representative of the Resource Center for Human Rights Victoria Apostol said that when they work on a material, the journalists must anticipate the impact of the broadcast information. There should be staged training seminars and courses for the journalists to better realize when the right to a private and family life is violated.
The debate was organized within the project “Promotion of the best practices of reflecting human rights in the mass media” that is implemented with the support of Civil Rights Defenders.
