Media Ethics. How to Cover Complex Topics? Press Release

Why is media ethics important, is it mandatory to adhere to it, and how does it help journalists avoid legal action? These were the central topics of the training session on «Media Ethics. How to Cover Complex Topics» which took place on October 6th at Maqsut Narikbayev University with the support of Media Club Qazaqstan and the International Foundation for Freedom of Speech Protection «Adil Soz».

The training was conducted by Olga Didenko, LLM, media lawyer with over 20 years of experience in the information field. 

She told the participants that most often pre-trial claims and lawsuits are received by the media precisely because of violations of ethical norms, and not any property rights. And most conflict situations arise for the same reason. However, all this can be avoided.

During the training, participants, including members of the Media Club Qazaqstan and students of Maqsut Narikbayev University, not only learned why you need to be extremely careful when writing materials about children, how not to hurt the feelings of representatives of socially vulnerable segments of the population and what you need to pay special attention to when talking about suicide cases, but also consolidated the acquired skills in practice. They analyzed the actual publications and discussed the controversial points encountered in them.

«All communities have codes of ethics, and they are developed by the representatives of the communities themselves. If the code of ethics comes down from above, it stops working. This is perceived as something alien. And the working Code of Ethics increases public confidence, reduces the number of legislative and by-laws that now regulate the activities of the media and journalists», emphasized Didenko.

The most active participants of the training were awarded with memorable gifts.