Critical Impediments to Implementing Media Code of Conduct

Organised by Department of Journalism and Mass Communication (DJMC)

23-24 June 2004, Hetauda

Opening Session

Lecturer at the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication (DJMC), Mr Chiranjibi Khanal spoke on the importance of the seminar and its objectives. He noted that the degree course on journalism and mass communication, introduced by the Tribhuvan University, covered code of conduct for media people.

President of Chitwan District unit of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists, Mr. Bishnu Chhimeki stressed that code of conduct enables journalists to follow a right track when undertaking their professional assignments.

Mr Dhruba Prasad Chaulagain, President of Makwanpur Bass Association, news does not seem to be important when not published but once it is carried by the news media, it has a lot of influence.

Mr Krishna Raj Tripathi, Local Administrator, said that journalists should not be affiliated with any political parties if they are to carry out their professional duties in a free and independent manner.

Several other speakers reiterated the points raised by the afore-mentioned speakers.

First Working Session

Associate Professor Lal Deusa Rai, who heads the Central Department of Journalism and Mass Communication presented a paper on the significance of media code of conduct and some of the practices and difficulties faced by the world of media in Nepal and abroad. Excerpts of his paper:

The question of what news to publish or broadcast and what to drop is an important subject facing daily journalistic exercise in the editorial room. The decision can be based on the law provided that it is clear on the issue; if not, the editor can and should take a decision based on ethics. The editor may also be guided by the written code of conduct. In its absence, s/he has to base the decision on the unwritten code of conduct or his/her journalistic experience or individual intuitive process.

Sweden was the first country to introduce code of conduct for mass media, whose history dates back to more than a century ago. Nepal has a 24-point code of conduct formulated in 2003 jointly by Press Council and Federation of Nepalese Journalists.

Recently, the Centre for Investigative Journalism in Nepal conducted a study on selection and presentation of news by mainstream daily newspapers during the state of emergency in a six-month period beginning November 26, 2000. The study took into account the standards of Peace Journalism and Good Journalism, the main components of which are considered to be Accuracy, Fairness, Balance and Responsibility.

There is no clear mention of these criteria either in Nepal's constitution or her press laws. Legal precedents are inadequate in number. Studies in accordance with social science investigation method can yield quantitative conclusions, but in the absence of clear legal provisions it's not possible to draw legal conclusions from such evaluation of Nepalese newspapers.

On the basis of the existing code of conduct, only ethics-oriented evaluation is possible. Practices of Nepalese journalism can also be analyzed on the basis of features of Peace Journalism or Good Journalism once they are determined. However, there is no provision for taking newspapers accused of violating the code of conduct to court. Only the body responsible for enforcing the code of conduct takes action.

A question arises: Does the joint code of conduct announced by Press Council incorporate all the main components of the concepts of Peace Journalism and Good Journalism? If not, the criteria prevailing in which country or society is the council trying to bring in? Are they universal values?

There are two bases for ethics. One is offered by the official code of conduct while the other, in the absence of the first, by values and norms evolved in the editor's social and cultural environment together with his/her medium's policy and regulation.

Code of conducts can be studied through their classification into different categories. One means of classification is the degree of emphasis on individual aspects- as dictated by prevalent conditions- of the basic universal values on which the code is based. Others are on the basis of country, organization, medium, level of development of the country (developed and developing). Yet another basis of classification is the content of code of conduct-news, advertisement, public relations et al.

Nepal's latest code of conduct spells out a journalist's duties in 11 points and prohibitions in 13 others, an improvement over its predecessor which featured only the "don'ts" in seven points. The definition of 'journalist' has been widened taking into account all media. Prior to the new code of conduct, FNJ and Press Council had separate code of conduct. The country's first code of conduct for journalists came out in Press Commission Report 2015 B.S.

By contrast, the Indian Press Council, the oldest in South Asia, has instead of making a full-fledged code of conduct prepared a list of principles to be kept in mind while making one. For journalists in print media, the Editor's Society has made a code of conduct while each radio and television organization has its own advertisement-centered code of conduct.

The code of conduct prepared by Sri Lankan Press Council received parliamentary endorsement before its enforcement. The underlying principle of code of conduct in South Asian countries is basically the same.

Comments

In his comments on the paper, Mr Keshab Prasad Kafle described Associate Prof. Rai's paper as perceptive but suggested that it would have been better if he had discussed more on the Nepalese context and included the effects of other countries' code of conduct. Comparative study of different codes of conduct would go a long way in having a better understanding of worldwide trend and practices. There are many issues that the existing code of conduct in Nepal has not been able to encompass and hence there is a need to make it more comprehensive.

Second Working Session

Mr Kaushal Pandey, President, FNJ, Makwanpur presented a paper on "Code of Conduct: State of Local Journalism." Excerpts of the paper:

According to a survey, titled "Journalists outside the valley", done by Bachelor level students of journalism at Ratna Rajya Campus in Kathmandu, 5.08 per cent of journalists are ignorant about code of conduct while 8.47 per cent are partially aware of it, even as 86.44 per cent are in the know. Similarly, 8.47 per cent said they hadn't implemented code of conduct while 1.69 per cent opined that it was not necessary to enforce the same.

This apathy to code of conduct among journalists can be explained from three aspects. First, lack of professionalism, and job and economic security in journalism in parts outside the capital ward off people with formal education, with the result that the profession rests basically on the shoulders of those who have entered it out of compulsion or interest without seriousness. This obviously leads to violation of code of conduct.

Second, though those practicing "mission journalism" are found to have more integrity and stronger ethical fiber than members of the other two afore-mentioned groups, the practice in society of respecting people for their wealth regardless of the means by which they earn it is also responsible for decaying morality in journalism.

Third, level of education and enlightenment of journalists and of others in their society also affect the state of code of conduct.

Comment

Commenting on the paper, Mr D.R. Ghimire, editor of Mechi-Kali daily paper, said the content of the paper would have been richer and would have done better justice to its title, if the conclusions drawn up were clear and precise regarding the local context. Putting into practice the code of conduct is more important than mere confining it to acdemic study. The condition of local journalists is not satisfactory and this can affect the actual implementation of a code of conduct.

Mr Chiranjibi Khanal, Lecturer at Central Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, TU, made a presentation on Code of Conduct for Radio and Television. Highlights of the presentation:

It is only in the recent years that media code of conduct and its need have come into public and press debate at greater length. In the past, these were subjects hardly discussed at such length. The existing code drawn up Press Council Nepal in close consultation with the Federation of Nepalese Journalists is not adequate to address the broadcasting sector, including radio and television.

There is a debate as to whether a single media council should formulate a code for all news media or whether a separate body for the print and another body for radio and television should be provided for. That there should not be any comprehensive code for radio and television at a time when such a news service accounts for a powerful and highly influential sector of any society is unfortunate.

Given the reach and clout of the news media-both print and audio-visual-efforts should be made to constantly refine the existing code of conduct. Steps should also be taken without any more delay in having a code that enables the audio-visual media to be also monitored in keeping with a comprehensive code that encompasses universally accepted practices in democratic societies.

Discussions

There were extensive deliberations on all the presentations. Concerns were expressed on the lack of proper media monitoring system in the country. Issues of press freedom and their responsibilities also came up. The participants agreed that freedom was not unlimited. Privacy of individuals should be respected.

The participants were divided into four groups, each of which produced a brief report. The reports were the basis for drawing up the following conclusions by the seminar participants:

Recommendations

At the end of the seminar, the participants and resource persons came up with a number of recommendations, some of the major ones being the following:

• If journalism is indeed the fourth estate, government should make adequate arrangements for it as have been made for the other three estates.
• Journalists are not the only ones required to abide by code of conduct, it is incumbent on those in other fields as well to do so.
• Through education and training, professionalism and responsibility should be inculcated in journalists.
• Existing code of conduct does not cover adequately radio and television.
• Journalism and journalists must have a mission, in the absence of which there will be no basis for issuing directives.
• Call for journalists to vow to put code of conduct to practice.
• Criminals should be targeted.
• Should be mindful of law in the country and other countries