All leading news media apply an “oral culture” in treating news topics. The JUADN Code of Ethics is allegedly taken as a point of reference for the self-regulation mechanisms taking place within the leading news media organisations. However, few of the traditional media have a mission statement emphasising their independence from political and economic powers or mentioning their devotion to pluralism (see Indicator E10 – Rules and practices on internal pluralism). They also cite technical guidelines – in other words, how to treat copyrighted material or gain permission to use material, and so on.
Journalists working in traditional media argue that the most important guideline is to put quality over quantity. That means they do not risk having a piece of news first at the expense of cross-checking information. An interviewed journalist of a private television station underlined this, regarding the internal practices they follow for news material that doesn’t derive from a trusted partner:
The truth is that we are much more careful now than in the past. The Internet is completely out of control and then there is the temptation to include something in our news bulletin, the scoops. We concluded that this makes no sense. So, we prefer to wait for our reporters to crosscheck if something is true or false.
Similarly, the editor-in-chief of a private radio station mentioned:
Beyond the JUADN Code, and in general within all media I have worked for, the speed in covering the news is not at stake. We have to be fast of course, but a piece of news is not coming out without having it crosschecked. It’s ok not to be the first one to break it, as long as we are accurate. If we are not the first, then we consider having more information, more details to be a step ahead.
Quality is also of high importance to newspaper journalists. A statement made by a newspaper editor-in-chief is indicative:
We don’t have any special internal rules. Our newspaper focuses on information, not resentment. We can be harsh in political critique, but we don’t target someone that easily […]. First, we put emphasis on what we call content. Beyond following leads, there is the ability of good writing. Our paper has always had strong writers. Writing has its value and its importance. It counts for a journalist’s way to the top.
Both journalists and chief editors proved to be reassuring as to minimising missteps, based on their long-lasting professional experience and the practice of multiple checks done before a news topic is released, so that there is a very small margin for mistakes.
Positive of the efficient collective rules governing public service broadcaster ERT – as opposed to private broadcasters – is an interviewed journalist working in the public service television station who reported the following:
If someone breached the JUADN Code, the Union’s disciplinary body would take action. However, I cannot recall any such instance. It is usually the private media that end up there, for example, when they keep their employees working during a strike and so on. Regarding the public service broadcaster, I cannot think of anyone ending up at the disciplinary authorities.
Nevertheless, in the field of online media, the rules seem to be more relaxed. In cases of misconduct, the disciplinary bodies of the Journalists’ Union take action. According to a journalist of a private news channel who, despite believing in most journalists’ adherence to the Code of Ethics, emphatically argued:
All journalists abide by the Code. However, there have been mistakes. As a result, measures were taken and removals had taken place on the part of the Union. We also have had disciplinary penalties and this can be humiliating for a journalist. All these can happen, but I believe that majority of journalists obey the Ethics Code.
Regarding internal rules, many journalists admit that usually in case of misconduct, there are no penalties internally from the media organisation’s board of directors. It is rather a warning of “please don’t do this again”. Indicative is the description of a newspaper journalist who argued:
We have discussions. There are no standard practices or internal guide of conduct. Many issues have come up like whether or not to use the term “illegal immigrants”. Do we have to change the term or not? I was against it […]. We have had articles that are sexist, racist, homophobic, and even anti-Semitic. There is not much conversation on these topics. For example, to discuss it among us, to respond with another article, there aren’t even consequences. Sometimes, if the telephone lines are very busy, the chief-editor gives lectures to the other editors, but there is no punishment as such like taking them off their columns for a couple of weeks. It is more like a “don’t do it again” warning. After a couple of months, one does the same.
However, an extraordinary type of internal rule seems to be applied in the case of the public service broadcaster ERT. As it is mentioned by a journalist of the public service radio, “there are no penalties for malpractices. They just put you on the ice; the same applies when the government changes”.
The dominance of “oral culture” in settling malpractices in newsrooms does not imply there are no special cases where stricter procedures are applied. As one journalist of our panel told us, “There is no standard procedure, something we have thought of. On the other hand, if a colleague didn’t respect the code on a regular basis […] we would end the collaboration”. A newspaper journalist recalling an incident said that there was once an issue with one correspondent from abroad, when the director had to terminate the contract because the journalist didn’t respect the Code of Ethics.
Research conducted by the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens showed that from 2009–2014, there were 258 sanction decisions issued by the NCRTV: 39 for radio and 219 for the television sector. The most common type of violation was programme degradation (79 cases), followed by misguiding the audience (53 cases) and lack of political plurality (28 cases) (Komninou, 2017).
