Representatives of Press Councils from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine held a recent common meeting in Chisinau for debating and sharing experience on the topic associated to observance of presumption of innocence and the right to private life in mass-media.

The encounter began with the ordinary sitting of Republic of Moldova Press Council, allowing the representatives of journalistic self-regulatory structures from other countries to take notice of the practices employed for examining complaints against mass-media institutions in our country.

Further on, each participant presented specific incidents of infringing the deontology principles (presumption of innocence and right to private life) by mass-media institutions in their country, complaints filed by mass-media product consumers, decisions adopted by the Press Council and their impact. The participants jointly examined those specific cases and exchanged opinions as regards the modalities to enhance self-regulatory efficiency in the field of mass-media. The reunion was attended as well by the expert of the Council of Europe, Ioana Avădani, director of the Independent Journalism Center in Romania, who came forth with similar examples from Romania as well as with European recommendations on the observance of presumption of innocence and the right to private life by mass-media.

The representatives of journalistic self-regulatory structures expressed their worry in relation to the fact that, out of commercial and rating judgments, mass-media institutions frequently violate the journalistic ethics norms, excelling in conveying negative messages and images, including morbid details and violence.

At the end of the event, the participants highlighted the usefulness of such common sittings for strengthening the capacities of journalistic self-regulatory mechanisms, meant to raise the awareness of mass-media and mediate the dialogue between the press and the public, grounded on mutual respect.          

The regional reunion of Press Council representatives from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine took place on November 23-24 this year, and was financed by the UNESCO Office in Moscow.