NationStates Jolt Archive

Just want to say to all you UN delegates that have submited a proposal called Journalist's Rights and Duties. Go check it out and please give your support so that this, in my opinion, very important can be discussed in a international forum of debate.

Thanks,

Quedas "O Bravo", ruler of The Free Land of Quedas and UN delegate for the Porra do Deserto.

You should post the resolution here, or at least provide a link. I'll do it for you this time.


Jounalist's Rights and Duties

A resolution to improve worldwide human and civil rights.

Human Rights - Strong

Proposal:

We, the United Nations,

Recognizing the importance of a worldwide respect to the free flow of information and the intermediary role played by the journalist in the maintenance of said free flow,

And in compliance with the basic premises defined in the “United Nations Resolution # 63 – Freedom of Press”,

Hereby declare these to be the basic rights of the journalist:

1 – A journalist shall have complete press access in all United Nations member countries, given that he is properly identified and affiliated with a credited medium organization;

2 – A journalist shall never be forced to reveal his sources, under no circumstances, even in the case of criminal prosecution;

3 – A journalist shall always be awarded the right of free expression, free from any form of exterior pressure (internal, governmental or economic). A special committee shall be put together in each of the UN member countries to monitor this compliance.

Given that no such rights shall come without some degree of responsibility, the UN also declares these to be the basic duties of the journalist:

1 – A journalist must always uphold his work to the standard of factual truth. Any journalist who fails to do so is liable to legal prosecution by the injured party in the article and/or be subject to government sanctions. The exceptions to this rule (e.g. a satirical article or a column), must be explicitly shown as such;

2 – A journalist should never reveal his sources, being subject, in the event of a breach of trust, to the same sanctions predicted in any other profession that includes a right to privilege (e.g. a lawyer);

3 – And finally, a journalist shall always respect the privilege of being awarded the right to free expression and strive to provide his audience with the best kind of journalism he can, making such quality the benchmark for the worldwide free flow of ideas.

Personally, I'm not a fan. You don't define what makes a journalist, what constitutes a "credited medium organization," and your entire proposal is no longer valid if a company fires a journalist, because then, by law, they're an unemployed bum of an ex-journalist and therefore lose all priveleges they may have had, and are also no longer liable for upholding their duties.

I like the overall goal of this. I am definitely for a lot of jounalistic freedom, both IC and OOC. One suggestion: You might not want to make it mandatory that a journalist must protect his or her source. Sources sometimes don't mind being named, as it can give a story more credibility. Also, some sources may request anonymity, but then change their minds later. Journalists aren't priests. Even a lawyer can break client confidentialty if the client waives that protection.

I agree with both of them. This is a good idea, it just needs to be fine tuned before I'd support it.

This:


2 – A journalist shall never be forced to reveal his sources, under no circumstances, even in the case of criminal prosecution;


and this:


2 – A journalist should never reveal his sources, being subject, in the event of a breach of trust, to the same sanctions predicted in any other profession that includes a right to privilege (e.g. a lawyer);

conflict.

Now, if you rewrite it to


A journalist is subject to and protected by the same "right to privilege" which covers lawyers and/or other such positions within the body of law of each nation.

or somesuch, you cover national soverignty (as they're equal to those who work in the law, or religion, or however you write it). For example, lawyers have the right to secrecy in Vastiva, except in certain cases. So giving a journalist equal coverage as that would be worthwhile - and fits our law system.

It's up to the Associated press of a particular nation to decide what makes a "journalist", not an international body like the United Nations.


Just a comment

Yes, but lets leave loopholes, unless the proposal is supposed to have a registry of "international press". Which isn't that bad an idea.

Personally, I consider it a horrible idea, as it directly affects the government. In DLE, all forms of writing are controled by the Guild of Writers. This extends from Writing the great Linking Books that allow us to travel through both space and time to the little brochures passed out on the street. The guild itself is accountable to the Maintainers Guild, who oversee the balance of all Ages, including our capital city of D'ni. They, in turn, are accountable to the Council, which is made up of the leader of each Guild and follows the teachings of Yisha, the Grower.

Of course, the Council must answer to the people, and it isn't unheard of for the people to vote and decide to dismiss the entire Council, replacing them with those who do a better job.

or somesuch, you cover national soverignty (as they're equal to those who work in the law, or religion, or however you write it). For example, lawyers have the right to secrecy in Vastiva, except in certain cases. So giving a journalist equal coverage as that would be worthwhile - and fits our law system.

That would work for Texan Hotrodders as well. Given our complete lack of restrictions on the activities of any persons (even lawyers), that would be an acceptable re-write for us. Other nations, however, may prefer to restrict the ambulance chasers more than the sensationalists. I suspect that such nations would object to the standards for either lawyers or journalists being changed to comply with this resolution.