Press Release
Istanbul, September 10, 2015
The Governing Council of the General Board of Ethical Charter for Syrian Media (ECSM) held a press conference on the morning of Thursday, September 10, 2015 in order to announce the release of the ethical charter which has been prepared and edited by more than twenty Syrian media organizations for the purpose of seeking an active role for the media, so that it may become an active contributor to the building of the new Syrian society.
For a full year, attendees met, discussed and studied similar experiences of peoples and states. They referred to experts in drafting media charters for assistance, thought of every letter and every word and edited and changed in a way that suits their reality. They wanted it to be as a Syria product, woven by Syrian hands, seeking to be an inclusive charter that organizes their work on the way of their dream of a Syrian media that doesn’t exclude anybody. They didn’t want it to confiscate the role of any other charter, but rather; as only an ethical reference for the work of the new Syrian media.
This charter is based on the general ethical principles, these principles are, accuracy, credibility, objectivity, impartiality, balance, fairness, pluralism, independence, respect to truth and freedom of speech, to mention only a few.
The attendees showed their genuine desire that this charter regulate work and bring organizations together in order to devout objective and professional media traditions. They considered that the proposed version of the charter is a preliminary version that is adjustable in the future and that there will be room for all to sign the charter without alienating or marginalizing any media organization, in accordance with the principle of empowering the Syrian media in order that it may be an active partner in building society.
This charter aspires that media workers respect in their work the general basic principles mentioned by different covenants and charters and the Arab and international declarations, especially these related to the preservation of human dignity, safeguarding the rights of the disabled, persons without legal or health capacity and treating children and the underage people with caution during media coverage avoiding exploiting them during the media work.
“Ethical Charter for Syrian Media” presents itself as a professional ethical reference that regulates the work of media and forms regulating principles for it in a way to guarantee the freedom of expression while keeping, on the other hand, as professional and ethical.
