Before the presidential elections, the Council of Media Ethics of Macedonia (CMMM) is appealing for a complete professional responsibility in the area of journalism, promoting a participatory political process and continuous access of the public to relevant and authentic information.
“We appeal to the media for a more serious approach to informing i.e. the public interest to be the main condition during the selection of the subjects that are presented to the public. Apart from the informative role, the media have an educational role as well and they should be enriching the public discourse, to influence its cultivation and not to lower the level of public communication and creating an atmosphere that is not fit for a modern democratic society. The media shouldn’t allow being manipulated by politicians and other participants in the election process because it will result in a direct damage over the public and this country’s citizens” states CMMM’s press release.
While supporting the right for the civic activists to serve as sources of information regarding occurrences, we are reminding the journalists of their role and to take care of the credibility of the information sources and to always use more sources of information, to inform with credibility and to objectively present the happenings in their true context. The level of professional behavior mustn’t be lowered and to allow lies, half baked truths and one-sided information to be served for the public as true and checked news” said CMMM.
CMMM also reminds that in accordance with the CMMM’s Bill for Ethical Reporting by the Media, the principles are the following: truthfulness and objectivity, balancing, a clear distinction between information and commenting, honesty and independence, professional solidarity among the media, editorial independence, and professional integrity, respect and tolerance, freedom and responsibility.
