Journalists should respect the privacy of people in mourning or going through great suffering and carefully consider the emotional state of someone facing a personal tragedy, according to a draft set of ethics for the media.
People who are not in the public sphere should never be named
They should not harass, intimidate or persecute people with phone calls, cameras or questions and have to leave private property when asked to do so.
Editors should not use material obtained through harassment.
Character assassination of individuals through manipulated filming, editing or the use of photos or articles should not take place.
Launched for public consultation last week, the code of ethics was drafted by a sub-committee of the Press Ethics Commission, chaired by Carmen Sammut with Press Ethics Commission chairman Kevin Dingli, Fr Colin Apap and Kevin Aquilina as members.
Entrapment, the proposed code of ethics suggest, should never be done with the intention to destroy a person but only when the story has a public interest. Also, people who are not in the public sphere should never be named – the action, and not the person, should be condemned.
The original and edited version of a recording must be kept for at least three months after a story is published.
The identity of “innocent people” caught on hidden or accidental recordings – taken while recording a television programme – should be protected and this should be the same for material – even taken from social networks – passed on to journalists.
Corrections should be given the same prominence as the item published or aired in a programme. In online articles, the correction should be added to the original article.
The public has to be informed whether additional information still needs to be verified or collected and whether public people or entities did not reply to questions.
Sources are to be protected at all times, except in cases stipulated by the law. However, sources have to be informed of the possible consequences of broadcasting the information they pass on.
News items and articles have to be unbiased and a clear distinction has to be made between facts, opinions and comment. News items have to be balanced and include different stakeholders with opposing ideas, included in the same feature in the case of controversial topics.
Special attention has to be given to reporting vulnerable people such as children, the elderly and the disabled. Journalists have to consider the physical, psychological and emotional health of people and consult with support agencies.
Attention should also be given to gender issues for both men and women to appear in a variety of roles and not only the stereotypes. Sexist language should be avoided and an extra effort should be made to include more women in discussion panels.
Financial help, presents or other benefits should never be accepted and should never influence editorial decisions, content or presentation. Journalists should never accept commissions or write any advertorial articles with the aim to boost financial shares or securities for their own personal benefit, that of their families or companies.
When reporting crimes or deaths, journalists have to let “enough time” pass before revealing the names of the victims for the families to be informed.
People charged with committing a crime have to be considered innocent until proven guilty and the media, which has every right to insist for an inquiry in particular cases, should hold back from carrying out the investigation or acting as a jury.
Journalists should avoid interviewing people who would be summoned as witnesses and write stories that would influence the verdict. Also, the rights of the accused and the victim have to be respected and “due importance” has to be given to the court’s judgement.
The identity of children involved in court cases has to be protected at all times and the identity of rape or sexual abuse victims should not be broadcast unless justified.
There should be no emphasis on race, skin colour, religion, age, sexual orientation or any type of disability when reporting court proceedings unless reference to these elements is justified. Not even political beliefs should be mentioned unless it is relevant to the case.
The draft is available on www.igm.org.mt and suggestions can be sent to institute.of.maltese.journalists@gmail.com by December 19.