The professional activity of the journalists is incompatible with the dissemination of hate speech, said members of the Press Council when examining the complaint of a man held at the Penitentiary in Rezina about the assertions from an article published by the portal Kp.md, IPN reports.

The prisoner who filed the complaint to the Press Council said Kp.md in the article about the recent hunger strike at the penitentiary published generalizing assertions, labeling all the participants in the strike as “killers, maniacs and pedophiles”, but this affects his honor and dignity and incites hatred in readers and the whole society. He noted that assertions attributed to the spokesperson for the National Administration of Penitentiary weren’t actually made by this. The Press Council issued the editorial office with a notice, but received no answer.

After examining the complaint, the Press Council held that the editorial office of Kp.md violated article 1.6 of the Journalist’s Deontological  Code of the Republic of Moldova, which provides that the professional activity of the journalists is incompatible with the dissemination of messages banned by law, such as hate speech and discrimination.

In the same meeting, the Press Council examined two complaints submitted online by a media consumer, against the portal Tv8.md and against the portal Diez.md. In both of the cases, the author complained about the publication of pictures that do not match the information presented in the article and that affect the feelings and religious beliefs of particular persons. After being notified by the Press Council, the edictal offices changed the pictures and the Council approved of such a deontological and responsible attitude.

The Press Council also debated an application of the Chisinau Police Division, which was examining a petition of SA “Moldovagaz” against an article published on the portal Omg.md and asked the Council to pronounce on the observance of the journalistic deontological norms in this case. The Press Council invited to the meeting the author of the article Alexandr Petkov, who said that the feature is an opinion piece that refers to statements made public earlier. The Council established that the article presents the author’s judgments and was published in an opinions section. Later, the portal published the gas company’s denial, with the right of reply being thus ensured.