NOVINARSKA ETIKA KAO PROFESIONALNA ETIKA
THE ETHICS OF JOURNALISM AS PROFESSIONAL ETHICS

Summary/Abstract: The author seeks to define the position of professional ethics in regard to universal or general ethics, focusing on the key dilemma: though it is indisputable that the performance of certain professional tasks entails specific duties, the important question is whether, in the daily performance of professional services, there is a need for a separate set of norms and rules designed to be binding for the correct conduct when facing ethical problems, or whether it is sufficient to “commit” oneself in the context of the norms of general morality already in existence. If the former, what should be done in cases where the norms of professional ethics are in conflict with the norms of general morality, which is a common occurrence. Following David Luban, while rejecting as excessively simplistic the standpoint that universal ethics also comprises partial ethics, the author is of the view that the social role of a given profession within society itself generates the norms of its own morality through – as Luban suggests – a chain of moral justification consisting of four key components: action, principle, role and institution. Against this context, the author seeks in the second part of his paper to pinpoint the position of the ethics of journalism as professional ethics, setting out its fundamental principles and duties and a formula for forming a possible ethical judgment in the event of a morally problematic situation, such as Potter’s formula.

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