Valery Vyzhutovich: “Journalists should develop corporate standards”

On September 14, 2007, Valery Vyzhutovich, a columnist for Rossiyskaya Gazeta, published the comment "Silence - a sign of consent?" Timed to coincide with the consideration in the State Duma of an amendment to the law on the media, which prohibits the press from indicating the nationality of criminals and victims.

Xenophobic moods, writes V. Vyzhutovich, are sometimes really provoked by the mass media. Of course, the journalist "should be aware of the danger posed by the call for discrimination disseminated through the media, and must do everything possible to avoid even inadvertently inciting discrimination based on race, gender, sexual orientation, language, religion , political and other views, national and social origin" , - the author quotes the Declaration of Principles of Conduct for Journalists, approved by the International Federation of Journalists in 1954. However, in no European country these requirements have been elevated to law, they are dictated only by professional ethics, journalistic agreements what is allowed and what is not.

Valery Vyzhutovich discusses in which cases the mention of nationality in media reports is appropriate, and in which it only causes harm, and comes to the following conclusion: " In my opinion, it is necessary to indicate the nationality of the criminal and the victim in press reports only if without it is impossible to understand the essence of what happened. And if someone stabbed someone while drunk, this is not a reason to report the nationality of the perpetrator and the victim. Especially in a society suffering from xenophobia ... journalists (in the West - ed . ) themselves decide when such a mention is required and when not. Perhaps we should trust the ethical instinct of reporters or develop some corporate standards in this regard. Voluntary self-restraints are sometimes more effective than any laws " .

Sources

• Vyzhutovich V. Is silence a sign of consent? // Russian newspaper. 2007. September 14.