Journalists’ deontological code to be modified

Journalists’ Union and the Press Council in Moldova will organize round tables in Chisinau, Balti and Cahul regarding the update of deontological code for journalists. The project is sponsored by the EU and the Council of Europe, Info-prim Neo reports. Dumitru Lazur, program coordinator within the Council of Europe and European Union Joint Programme on Democracy Support, has announced the project would be presented for debates to representatives of the press and of the civil society. After the Code is elaborated, information campaigns regarding document’s contents will be initiated for both citizens and journalists. The updated deontology will be promoted through brochures and info spots. “We hope that representatives of various press associations will finally reach an agreement regarding the document, a complete deontological code for Moldovan journalists, adjusted to the latest media realities”, Lazur said. Ioana Avadani, manager of the Center of Independent Journalism in Bucharest, mentioned the previous code from 2009 was no longer up to date with the journalistic practices that evolved over the last 11 years. That’s why this document had to be revised. “This code must make a clear distinction between those who can be judged by it and those who can’t. It must be applied only to those who have adhered to it, unlike the present code, which is applied to all the journalists. Then, the definition of journalist is a difficult and tricky task. Nevertheless, if we don’t sort this out between ourselves, we won’t be able to operate with the code and it will be dangerous for the public and politicians, who could generalize things in a very unpleasant way”, Avadani stressed.