#6534
#4
RUSSIAN PRESS MINISTRY ADVISES THAT MASS MEDIA SHOULD
TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THAT "PEOPLE'S LIVES ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN SOCIETY'S
RIGHT FOR INFORMATION"
MOSCOW, NOVEMBER 4, 2002. /FROM A RIA NOVOSTI CORRESPONDENT/ Russia's Press Ministry advises that Russian mass media should take into account the fact that "people's lives are more important that society's right for information," when they cover emergency situations, posing a threat to people's security.
A document, developed on the basis of the current legislation and international experience, will be considered at the coming meeting of the Mass Media Industrial Committee together with the Ministry's head staff, the Press Ministry's press service told RIA Novosti on Monday.
The project of methodical recommendations points to the fact that "when working in emergency situations journalists must strictly abide by the current legislation on mass media and on combating terrorism." They must have it in mind that "mass media information is available to all people, even to those who deliberately create critical situations." Their response to this information "can be inadequate". Journalists are recommended "to avoid details when touching upon the work of professionals, saving people's lives." "Proceeding from the fact that in the majority of cases access to mass media in order to state their standpoints is one of terrorists' key objectives, journalists must not take unsolicited interviews from terrorists, give them an opportunity to appear in live broadcasts without preliminary consultations with the law-enforcement bodies and they must remember that live broadcasts can be used by terrorists for giving prearranged signals to their accomplices in other places, they must be ready to interrupt live broadcasts from the site of accident at any moment and not to comment on and analyze terrorists' demands on an amateur level without professional consultations and be aware that terrorists' hostages are also very dependent on the situation and at certain moments become an instrument of pressure on both the state and public opinion," the project reads.
The Press Ministry also urges "not to try to get access to classified information of the special services conducting antiterrorist operations". "Having accidentally let out some information, you can upset the operation to free hostages and kill many people, including those who are coming to rescue," the document says.
The Ministry calls on journalists to "remember about their duty to inform the society, but not to spread panic" and "not to get the meaning of what has been said alone but also the tone of it." When covering events journalists must not hinder the work of the law-enforcement bodies, medical and other services, whose main task is to save people's lives." The Ministry also calls upon journalists "to remember that the world community believes terrorism does not depend on the race, religion or nationality and not to use unproved sources of information", "be tactful and considerate to the feelings of terrorists victims' relatives and close ones" and "avoid excessive sensationality and naturalism." The Press Ministry recommends that mass media "should not act as a mediator." "If a journalist becomes one of negotiators, he must refrain from his own publications before the crisis is resolved," the document stresses. Journalists are urged "to inform official bodies in due time about all info on plans of committing or developing terrorist acts, even if they seem highly unfeasible".
Back to the Top Next Article
- Back to the Top -