Τhe Cyprus Committee for Media Ethics (CME) today announced the launch of its updated Journalists’ Code of Conduct

Τhe Cyprus Committee for Media Ethics (CME) today announced the launch of its updated Journalists’ Code of Conduct which has been renewed for the first time since the establishment of the CME in 1997. The new Code was validated by the stakeholders that make up the Committee, namely the Cyprus Union of Journalists, the Cyprus Publishers Association, the owners of Radio and TV stations, the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation and the Cyprus Association of Online Publishers.

The launch was announced in the context of the annual meeting of the Alliance of Independent Press Councils of Europe (AIPCE) which is being hosted by the Committee for Media Ethics today and tomorrow in Ayia Napa, in Cyprus.

The amendments were deemed necessary to allow for the Code to be consistent with international developments in journalism, with what applies in other member countries of the Alliance of Independent Press Councils of Europe but also with the demands of society itself. In particular it was deemed necessary because of the urgent need to protect press freedom and the independence of media in an era in which they are challenged as well as the need to strengthen the quality of journalistic content as a response to the criticism.

The Code was scrutinized by journalists, experts, academics and legal professionals in an effort to achieve the aims set out by the CME and to adhere to the principle of self-regulation upon which the Committee is founded.

The basic provisions of the Code were maintained and adapted to the new context. At the same time, amendments related to journalistic content were strengthened, given the global debate over fake news and disinformation. Equally, the Code was strengthened with provisions on key social issues of our time (discrimination, protection of children, gender, health, sex related crime, suicide) in coordination with all relevant stakeholders.

The CME, which has been delegated since its foundation to operate as the guardian of Media Ethics, believes in the need for the Code to constitute a tool of guidance for every journalist. It considers adherence to the Code as the compass for safeguarding the quality of journalistic content as well as a basis for the training of the journalistic community. In this spirit it is available to journalists, the media and society at large, to debate all issues that arise from it.