ПРАВНИ И ЕТИЧКИ АСПЕКТИ НОВИНАРСТВА У СРБИЈИ: КОМПАРАТИВНА АНАЛИЗА ЗАКОНА О ЈАВНОМ ИНФОРMИСАЊУ И МЕДИЈИМА И КОДЕКСА НОВИНАРА СРБИЈЕ
LEGAL AND ETHICAL ASPECTS OF SERBIAN JOURNALISM: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE PUBLIC INFORMATION AND MEDIA ACT AND THE JOURNALISTS’ CODE OF ETHICS

Summary/Abstract: In the contemporary society, journalism rests on the principles of impartiality and independence. Such a position and role of journalists can be successfully safeguarded by enacting corresponding legal and ethical norms in the field of media. This paper compares legal and ethical norms envisaged in two Serbian documents: the Public Information and Media Act (2014) and the Journalists’ Code of Ethics (2006). The former is the media “umbrella” law dealing with the journalists’ status; the latter is the most important legal document in the field of journalists’ ethics in Serbia. The paper first focuses on the relationship between ethics and law in general, stressing their importance in the field of media. After providing an overview of the Serbian legislative framework on media and the ethical norms related to journalists, the authors compare in detail the legal and ethical norms provided in these two documents, drawing attention to their corresponding points and the observed differences. The comparison reveals that the Public Infromation and Media Act recognizes most of the commonly accepted professional journalism principles. Some of them are defined in the identical way in the Journalists’ Code (e.g. authentic reporting, the journalists’ due diligence, the presumption of innocence, the respect for privacy, etc.). However, the Act does not contain some principles which are envisaged in the Code, such as the one concerning the relationship between a journalist and the source of information, thus leaving room to journalists to regulate their professional space.

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