International federation of journalists Declaration of principles on the conduct of journalists

Adopted by the Second World Congress of the International Fed­eration of Journalists at Bordeaux on 25—28 April 1954 and amend­ed by the 18th IFJ World Congress in Helsingor on June 2—6 1986.

This international Declaration is proclaimed as a standard of profes­sional conduct for journalists engaged in gathering, transmitting and commenting on news and information and describing events.

1. Respect for truth and for the right of the public to truth is the first duty of the journalist.

2. In pursuance of this duty, the journalist shall at all times defend the principles of freedom in the honest collection and publication of news, and the right of fair comment and criticism.

3. The journalist shall report only in accordance with facts of which he/she knows the origin. The journalist shall not suppress essential in­formation or falsify documents.

4. The journalist shall use only fair methods to obtain news, photo­graphs and documents.

5. The journalist shall do the utmost to rectify any published infor­mation which is found to be harmfully inaccurate.

6. The journalist shall observe professional secrecy regarding the source of information obtained in confidence.

7. The journalist shall be aware of the danger of discrimination being furthered by the media, and shall do the utmost to avoid facilitating such discrimination based on, among other things, race, sex, sexual ori­entation, language, religion, political or other options, and national or

social origins.

8. The journalists shall regard as grave professional offences the fol­
lowing:

—plagiarism

—malicious misrepresentation

—calumny, slander, libel, unfounded accusations

—the acceptance of a bribe in any form in consideration of either publication or suppression.

9. Journalists worthy of that name shall deem it their duty to observe
faithfully the principles stated above.

Within the general law of each country the journalists shall recog­nize in professional matters the jurisdiction of colleagues only, to the exclusion of every kind of interference by governments or others.

ADDITIONAL EXERCISES¹

COMPOSITION SUBJECTS