The journalists independently, not only editorial boards, from this year can apply for the National Journalistic Ethics and Professional Deontology Award that is annually provided by the Press Council of the Republic of Moldova. In the August 26 meeting, the Council made changes to the regulations concerning the organization and holding of the contest this year, IPN reports.
This way, the editorial boards will be able to propose at most two candidates for the Award. The decision should be adopted collectively and the letter sent to the Press Council should be signed by the manager of the media outlet and by at least three journalists of the creation team. The provision was voted at the suggestion of the Press Council president Viorica Zaharia, who considers that the journalists faithful to the professional ethics and deontology could be this way appreciated, even if the editorial office where they work committed violations of the Deontological Code.
Under the regulations, the candidates this year could be proposed during September 1-15. In the period, the editorial boards can field themselves or can be proposed by any company/organization of any form of ownership or by media consumers. The editorial boards and nongovernmental organizations will be able to propose journalists as private individuals through a letter addressed to the Press Council. The letter must contain evidence of the candidates’ attachment to journalism based on ethics and professional deontology.
By September 20, the Press Council will examine the proposals and will publish the list of accepted candidates .
The second stage of the contest consists in monitoring and scoring and will take place between September 20 and October 31. Each media consumer can give by ten points weekly from a computer to the candidates through the online platform www.mediaforum.md. The public vote will constitute 25% of the total number of votes. 75% of the votes will represent the vote of a group of experts and members of the Press Council.
After October 31, the Press Council will determine the score obtained by the competitors from the public, experts and members of the Press Council and will publish the list of finalists. In a special closed meeting in November, the Council will decide the winner. The Council can decide not to confer the Award if it considers that none of the finalists deserves it. According to Press Council secretary Petru Macovei, the argued decision not to give the Award can be based only on ethical and deontological reasons.
The National Journalistic Ethics and Professional Deontology will be awarded at the Media Forum 2020 scheduled for the last week of November.
The Award was instituted by the Press Council of the Republic of Moldova in 2015 and is awarded annually in order to promote the ethical and deontological principles and in recognition of the merits of media professionals in this field. In 2015, the Prize was awarded to the Chisinau Office of Radio Free Europe, in 2016 – to Anticoruptie.md portal, in 2017 - to Ziarul de Garda weekly, in 2018 - to SP newspaper of Bălți, while in 2019 – to TV8 channel.
