All students are expected to post contributions in order to collectively come up with a proposed media code of ethics for a potential campus publication.
Please post your proposals in the comments section. Please use one to two sentences per comment and use your real name. All should then comment to the proposals so that we can then decide which ones are retained. Once finalised, each proposed line will be published here in the main post.
Please note that all comments need to be moderated before publication. Consequently, depending on the day and time of your input it can take 1 day or more for your comment to appear here.
UoM-Communication Studies 
Completeness; A news must be check and cross check by the journalist from his sources before being published and verified by two persons.
Objectivity; Each journalist has to be impartial to anyone even from himself, to not publish in favor or fear, provide news which can feed the public from an objective point of view,
Public Interest; Serve only the public interest, publish only articles which provide news without damaging the privacy of the concerned person.
Ethic; Always acts ethically, do not steal, do not plagiarism and do not invent.
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Thanks for your contribution. All students are expected to contribute and also comment on others’ inputs. Please click the notify box below to follow all discussions on this page.
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Yeah as Johann said we are not supposed to fabricate information.
We should publish private photos only if they are in the public interest(never publish images of children if it can affect them in any way).
Information should be from one than one source with the subject being given the opportunity to give their own version of the facts
Journalists should not force people to give information if they are unwilling to do so.
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A responsible journalist should not dive to any conclusion without proper investigation. He/ she should be critical and a good analyst while taking out information from people. No fake, incomplete or inappropriate information should be provided that can delude the public.
The journalist must act as a protector for the weak as one highest ethics of journalism is to seek the truth and protect the weak.
A good journalist is the not the one who runs after impressing people by his/her work but the one who stand out as a savior to the weak, unmask the wrongdoers, and bring justice to the innocent
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Journalists should be very careful about their use of language. One should NOT use:
(1) Offensive language.
(2) Sexist language.
(3) Racial language.
(4) words that might offend people suffering to disabilities.
(5) words that might offend people suffering to illnesses.
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Fairness – The fundamental rights of the people involved in the news should be respected; journalists should always be able to account for the fairness and accuracy of their news reports to the public
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– The journalist has no right to harass bully or torture a person just to get information. The person’s refusal/consent has to be respected by the journalist.
The journalist must be honest, and not use crooked ways like hidden camera or hidden mic to obtain information(Before elections, recording on Pravind Jugnauth’s family).
Privacy must be respected.
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Being neutral and forwarding the right information.
Firstly a journalist should be unbiased and do not judge while making a particular report. He/ she should not be bounded by religion, culture or personal beliefs. Instead objectivity should be maintained.
Also, factual information should be given to the public and as mentioned above, information should not be fabricated.
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Media is the window through which the whole nation sees the world.So showing them the true facts and bitter reality should be one of our main concerns. Conveying the truth at all times should be one of our main media ethics.
we should respect our readers and their emotions each and every act of our should be well thought upon because whatever we say can have a huge impact on people and the very way of thinking.
People expect journalists to always be righteous and we have to bestow that particular aspect.
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1) Do not allow personal interest, or any belief, commitment, payment, gift or benefit, to undermine your accuracy, fairness or independence.
2) Use fair, responsible and honest means to obtain material. Identify yourself and your employer before obtaining any interview for publication or broadcast. Never exploit a person’s vulnerability or ignorance of media practice.
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Good evening madam
I was reading a news article from the L’express which I want to share and have some clarification. Well this news article talks about a minor girl of 14 year old, who has disappeared and the picture of that minor is hidden.It is true that journalist can not publish photo of minor which intrigue me is how people will identify the minor and alert the authority if she is seen somewhere. So in that particular case can a journalist has the right to publish the picture of that minor, which would be helpful ? As you can notice even in the comment section of the article, the public are arguing to show the pictures of the minor.
Regards.
Johann Bissessur
here the news article link
http://www.lexpress.mu/article/260279/mahebourg-deux-filles-12-et-14-ans-portees-manquantes-depuis-dimanche
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Thanks Johann. Could you please post on the page for the module (rather than on this special page for the proposed code of ethics) so that all your classmates can see it too?
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