AJM and CMEM: The process of becoming a member of the Register of Professional Online Media remains open
The Council of Media Ethics of Macedonia (CMEM) and the Association of Journalists of Macedonia (AJM) remind the media that the procedure for joining the Register of Professional Online Media of these two organizations (Promedia.mk) is still open.
The most important purpose of this process is to help the public to easily identify which media meet the membership criteria (https://semm.mk/chlenstvo/pravila-za-chlenstvo) and adhere to ethical reporting standards in their work.
Given the crisis situation caused by the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), both nationally and globally, our two organizations will continue to urge the media to behave professionally and ethically and not contribute to spreading lies and causing panic in the public. The spread of COVID – 19 causes great public concern, but the reporting in some media outlets has increased anxiety in a way that is not ethically justified, and the spread of misinformation can have serious consequences.
Therefore, the call for membership in the Registry is part of the commitment to foster the important role of the media in properly understanding the coronavirus, its consequences and ways of effective prevention.
It is our common interest to increase the membership of the media in this Register, and thus the media’s commitment to work professionally, responsibly and ethically by respecting the process of self-regulation and the criteria based on best practices of developed democratic societies and the Council of Europe, and consulted with the journalistic and media community. So far, this process has been supported by a number of media, the Economic Chamber of Macedonia and the international community, and the Registry currently has 102 members.
CMEM is already receiving complaints about unethical reporting about the coronavirus, and in this regard, we urge the public to continue to respond to cases of unprofessionalism and to contribute to preventing misinformation in the media.
