CODE OF ETHICS

INTERNATIONAL

International federation of the journalists

Statement of Principle of the FIJ on the Control of the Journalists

"the present international declaration specifies the codes of conduct of the journalists in research, the transition, the diffusion and the comment of the news and the information and in the regulation of the events.

1. to respect the truth and the right which the public has to know constitutes the paramount duty of the journalist;

2. In accordance with this duty, the journalist will defend, in any time, the double principle of freedom of seeking and of publishing honestly information, of the comment and criticism and the right to the equitable comment and honest criticism.

3. the journalist will report only the facts of which il/elle knows the origin, will not remove essential information and will not falsify documents.

4. The journalist will use only equitable means to obtain information, photographs and documents.

5. The journalist will make an effort by all the means of rectifying any information published and revealed inaccurate and harmful.

6. The journalist will keep the professional secrecy concerning the source of information obtained confidentially.

7. The journalist will take guard with the risks of a dicrimination propagated by the media and will make his possible to avoid facilitating such a discrimination, in particular founded on the race, the sex, sexual manners, the language, the religion, the opinions political and different and the origin national or social.

8. The journalist will regard as serious professional misconducts: plagiarism; the malevolent distortion; calumny, scandalmongering, slandering, charges without base; the acceptance of an unspecified gratification because of the publication of information or its suppression.

9. Any journalist worthy of this name has a duty to observe the principles stated strictly above. Recognizing the known right of each country, the journlaist will not accept, out of professional matter, that jurisdiction of its pars, other than any governmental or different intrusion."

(Adopted with the world Congress of the FIJ in 1954. Amended with the world Congress of 1986.)

Declaration of the rights and the duties of the journalists (Munich 1971)

This declaration was adopted by a conference which joined together, November the 23, and 24 1971 in Munich, the representatives of the majority of the trade unions of journalists of Europe, as well as two large international organizations, the FIJ and the OIJ.

Preamble

The right to information, the free expression and criticism is one of fundamental freedoms of any human being. This right of the public to know the facts and the opinions proceeds the whole of the duties and the rights of the journalists. The responsibility for the journalists with respect to the public precedes any other responsibility, in particular with regard to their employers and of the authorities.

The mission of information comprises necessarily limits which the journalists themselves assert spontaneously. Such is the object of the declaration of the duties formulated here. But these duties can actually be respected in the exercise of the occupation of journalist only if the concrete conditions of independence and professional dignity are carried out. Such is the object of the declaration of the rights which follows.

Declaration of the duties

The essential duties of the journalist in research, the drafting and the comment of the events are:

1) - To respect the truth, whatever can about it be the consequences for itself, and this, because of the right that the public has to know the truth;

2) - to defend the freedom of the information, the comment and criticism;

3) - to publish only information whose origin is known or in the contrary case to accompany them by the reserves necessary; not to remove essential information and not to deteriorate the texts and documents;

4) - not to use of unfair methods to obtain information, photographs and documents;

5) - to oblige to respect the private life of the people;

6) - to rectify any information published which appears inaccurate;

7) - to keep the professional secrecy and not to reveal the source of information obtained confidentially;

8) - to prohibit plagiarism, calumny, slandering and the charges without base, as to receive an unspecified advantage because of the publication or the suppression of information;

9) - never not to confuse the trade of journalist with that of the advertising executive or the propagandist; not to accept any instruction, direct or indirect, of the advertisers;

10) - to refuse any pressure and to accept of editorial directive only persons in charge for the drafting.

Any journalist worthy of this name has a duty to observe the principles stated strictly above; recognizing the right in force in each country, the journalist accepts as regards professional honor only the jurisdiction of his pars, other than any governmental or different interference.

Declaration of the rights

1) - The journalists assert the free access to all the sources of information and the right to inquire freely into all the facts which condition the public life. The public or private professional secrecy can in this case being opposed to the journalist only by exception and under the terms of clearly expressed reasons.

2) - The journalist has the right to refuse any subordination which would be against the general line of the body of information in which it collaborates, such as it is given written in its contract of service, just as any subordination which would not be clearly implied by this general line.

3) - The journalist cannot be constrained to achieve a professional act or to express an opinion which would be contrary with its conviction or its conscience.

4) - The editorial team must be obligatorily informed of any important decision likely to affect the life of the company. She must be at least consulted, before final decision, to any measure interesting the composition of the drafting: engage, dismissal, change and promotion of journalists;

5) - In consideration of his function and his responsibilities, the journalist has right not only for the benefit of the collective agreements, but also to a personal contract ensuring the material and moral safety of his work as a remuneration corresponding to the social role which is it his and sufficient to guarantee his economic independence.