Professional ethics | Media and Democracy

Spaces for debate, mediation and régulation of journalism practices

by Collectif | 18 October 2014

Press ethics are debated in many different areas, and not always those one would expect. This diversification underlines the new and widespread emphasis on moral issues, an unusual trend in journalism till now. The rights and responsibilities of the press have often been discussed, but never before have so many different entities taken a stand on the issue. Some advocate for moral journalism, as if this should be enforced, imposed, like a responsibility. Others defend journalism’s (...)
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Practice of the profession | Professional ethics

New paths for investigative journalism

by Aurore Gorius | 18 October 2014

Speed and haste have never been great allies for journalism. The increasing influence of the Internet and multiplication of broadcasting channels have made information flow a lot faster. News is broadcast as soon as possible and commentary delivered immediately. Newsrooms have to continuously do more, with less. This historical technical turning point questions the essence of journalism and its credibility: in this context, where can investigative journalism and reports written over long (...)
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Practice of the profession | Professional ethics

“Public life / private life: what are the boundaries for European journalists?”

by Collectif | 2 October 2014

It is true that the line between private and public life has varied over time, according to social, political and cultural contexts, today it is increasingly thin and, at times, porous. Where are the boundaries in the public arena? What is the situation for our neighbours and throughout Europe? When can national media cross this figurative limit? How is this separation viewed by European countries? How does the culture and history of a population affect the acceptance or not of intrusion (...)
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Practice of the profession | Media and Democracy

The French, the media and journalists: trust no more…

by Bertrand Verfaillie | 12 November 2013

My regional newspaper stopped publishing April fools’ pranks. The custom may well be extinct, because now it feels a lot less like a joke. For April fools’ to work, readers have to completely trust in their media’s competence, rigor and ethics. The tricked reader will only laugh at the joke with whoever pulled it, if they share a connection, a sort of pact. They need to be bonded, either consciously or instinctively, by (...)
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Practice of the profession | Professional ethics

The Journalists’ arbitration commission, a joint-consultation system

by Denis Ruellan | 5 November 2013

Every individual case handled by the arbitration commission is both commonplace and unique... The commission is often referred to for the same reasons, mainly cession, economic layoffs and misconduct. But behind this apparent simplicity are an infinity of specific cases and different careers. Particularly since the arbitration procedure has significant impact on both work contracts and joint consultation, and is therefore a crossroads where financial stakes, social relations within the (...)
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Professional ethics | Media and Democracy

The Journalists’ Societies and the notion of participation in the press enterprise

by Manola Gardez | 2 November 2012

« Are we doomed to painfully oscillate between a system whereby workers are simple instruments in the enterprise which they belong to and another that would crush everyone, body and soul, in an odious, totalitarian and bureaucratic machinery? No! The human, French and practical solution to this question that dominates everything is neither in the lowering of oneself nor in the servitude of others. The solution is in the proper and fruitful association of those who would put in common, (...)
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Practice of the profession

Multimedia journalism, multi-constraints or multi-challenges ?

by Ariane Allard | 11 October 2012

« If the human mind likes surfing, it gets quickly tired of floating. Hence the recurrent question : are those new journalists « Shivas or not Shivas » -to use one of their many labels- ? Or even more, can we name them « sherpas » ? Not so simple, as the Hindu god they are ironically compared with : after all, the four arms of the Yogi are supposed to allow them to write, twitt, make a video, a sound, a photo, or animate a community! (...)
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Practice of the profession

Journalists and social networks, evolution or revolution?

by Nathalie Dollé | 10 October 2012

« When it would be both improper and redundant to go back to the technical and economic press sector changes, a reflection on social networks is imposing questions about the practical implications in journalists’ daily work. In the same time, we need to interrogate implicit notions that were probably not so often examined, but also ethical aspects and renewed relations between journalists and sources, the public, partners and their own media. (...)
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Professional ethics

« Yours and mine »

Conflicts of interest in media information

by Bertrand Verfaillie | 10 November 2011

If the work of former Secretary of State, Martin Hirsch, made some stir, Bertrand Verfaillie’s book comes as a complement to the important missing section on media and information. The notion of conflict of interest in the press and information is a current topic which the author explores in different dimensions : all types of relationships that could cause a conflict of interest are indeed addressed and are investigated and detailed by interviews. To remedy this situation, the author not (...)
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Practice of the profession

Journalism, an evolving collective

by Nathalie Dollé | 9 November 2011

If obtaining the status of journalist has been a long struggle, this profession has finally won its legitimacy, and even a highly respected position. Was the team, which quickly became the editorial staff, a community from the beginning or only a group of individuals ? As a various and fluctuating profession, journalism has continued to change throughout its history. Today, new mutations have arisen; as the heart of these media enterprises changes into bi-media newsrooms, what happens with (...)
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