Ethics across Europe - Assignment Example

Introduction In this paper, I compare the ethics s for journalists for Ukraine with the UK’s ethical I discuss the similarities and the differences between the guidance the countries have issued for journalists. Both the countries have promoted the journalists’ right to speech, and expression of views. However, the methods journalists use to acquire the information and convey it are properly stated by the countries’ codes. The means used to acquire the information must be honest as stated in UK’s ethical code and must be obtained by legal means according to the Ukraine’s code.

Any news promoting discrimination, conflicts is forbidden from publishing by both the countries. Respecting a person’s private life and refraining from fabricating the information for personal interests by journalists is stated by both countries’ ethical codes. The dissimilarities between the countries’ code of ethics for journalists are; while the Ukraine’s code for journalists clearly specifies that the names of the minors cannot be published while reporting a case concerned with them, there’s no such instruction in the UK’s ethics code.

Also, the Ukraine’s ethical codes specifies that journalists need to be impartial while reporting court procedures and grants them no right to call a person criminal before an appropriate court verdict has been reached (Ethicnet 2008). This may be due to the fact that Ukraine may have witnessed such cases before where the journalists reporting had lead to distress and defamation to some innocent persons. Resulting which these specific ethics may have been introduced by the country. In broad terms, the ethical codes for the two countries are quite similar, the differences that were found are not very contradicting.

Bibliography 1. Ethicnet 2008, Journalism Ethics, Code of Ethics of Ukraine Journalists, published online by: Department of Journalism & Mass communication FI-33014, University of Tampere, Finland. Retrieved online from: Dated: 24 -03-2011 http://ethicnet.uta.fi/ethicnet_collection_of_codes_of_journalism_ethics_in_europe