Question of <I>The Day</I>
Liya BUDZHUROVA, Head of the Association of Crimean Journalists:
I believe principal ethical rule for a journalist, especially during an election campaign, must be something like “Fellows, this is not our war.” It is a war of parties and financial groups, not us. Thus, the main thing in this war for a journalist is not to get down in the mud, since the media will certainly be involved in the political battles. The main principles of such an ethical code should be no interference and do no harm. I also believe it unethical to create ethical codes using the money of our local oligarchs. It seems to me that while our journalists’ organizations do not and cannot have any money of their own, they can take clean money only from the West.
Mykola ZAKREVSKY, acting editor-in-chief, Kievskie Vedomosti:
The basic moral principles of any journalist should be to evaluate the facts and their reliability as much as possible. A journalist can have his own ethical judgment. However, even in this case there has to be some limits. Why? Because a journalist’s professional honesty is the basis for common trust in information and journalism as a whole. Deliberately distorting facts is unacceptable under any circumstances; if it is unintended, it is still unprofessional. If a journalist can check a fact, he must do so, if not, he should be in no hurry to publish it.
It is very important that sometimes those who work in the press show very little compassion for those about whom they write. Journalists often take undue freedom with their versions, which leads to conflict situations. In my view, journalism is not a license to display arrogance and pride.
And, of course, one of the norms of journalists’ moral code should be to show good taste. Unfortunately, in seeking sensations journalists forget this, and sensation begins to stink. They should be equally careful with their suspicions and accusations.
Speaking about the norms of our behavior or code of honor, the journalist, in my opinion, should reject any material considerations offered, for then he will become dependent. Creating ethical codes on Western money, or any money, will not do: money and morals are incompatible.
Ihor LUBCHENKO, president of the Ukrainian National Union of Journalists:
Our organization published a leaflet after our 1997 meeting, containing a professional code for journalists. Now our commission has compiled propositions from the ethical codes of many countries. The thing is that on their own journalists have respected them in place they worked. Today not all journalists are members of our union, and some of them have been expelled from it for breaking these rules. What if a journalist is not a union member? Or if he is expelled from it, does he stop his journalistic activity? No. It is important that every group of journalists follow this code and that every journalist knows that if he breaks it, he won’t work with this group anymore. It would be great if a commission were created to examine all complaints against journalists.
I think we should not create a professional code for journalists using Western money. Now there are plans to create an alternative journalists union on non-Ukrainian money. The Association of Media Workers organized four years ago by Viktor Petrenko is an alternative one, but it has been created on Ukrainian money. We have so many journalists that even five unions could function simultaneously. The main thing is that they all act in the interests of journalists, their ethics, freedom of expression, and were able to make a living.
