The Press Council reminds the journalists and media outlets of the obligation to collect information ethically and legally and to publish it only after verifying it through two sources that are independent from each other and by observing the right of reply of those who are criticized. The recommendations were formulated following the examination of a number of complaints, IPN reports.
The president of the Basketball Federation Alexandr Abramciuc and another two representatives of the Federation, Oleg Pravdiuk and Denis Melniciuc, filed a complaint against the portals Enews.md and Kp.md, which allegedly used their names in a negative context, asserting that they were investigated for corruption and illegal match fixing.
Attending the meeting of the Press Council, these said the information was incorrect and the authors of the article didn’t contact them to ask for their opinion about the accusations presented in the article. They presented copies of answers from the National Anticorruption Center, which confirm that an order not to take legal action against them given the absence of offense elements was made before the publication of the articles.
The Press Council established that the information published by the two portals wasn’t verified before being published and its source was not clear. Given that the article was withdrawn from Enews.md, the Council held that Kp.md violated a number of articles of the Journalist’s Deontological Code concerning the collection of information, observance of the presumption of innocence and offering of the right of reply. The Council recommended the plaintiffs to ask for the right of reply and advised the editorial office of Kp.md to offer it in the conditions stipulated in the professional deontology.
The National Center for Personal Data Protection asked the Press Council to inform the journalistic community about the legal obligations to protect the personal data after a man complained to the Center that the portal Bloknot-Moldova.md published his personal data in a negative context. This published a picture of him sitting on the plaque of a monument of heroes of the Afghan war. The Press Council decided to work out an explanatory guide for journalists, centering on the use of personal data in journalistic content.
