The regulation of the College of Journalists of Peru and Freedom of Expression
Introduction
Professional schools throughout their history in the country have marked professional performance guidelines, ensuring ethical practice and contributing to social good; This is no stranger to the College of Journalists of Peru Guild entity that was founded on October 1, 1980 by Law No. 232221 with the aim of representing journalists defending their rights and duties, in addition to regulating the deontological exercise of the profession. When the tuition is mandatory for the professional practice of journalism, we raise the following question: Do the duties, regulations or codes established by the Professional College will restrict or limit the freedom of expression of journalists in some way?.
Developing
During the last 25 years the country has suffered a corrupt reality in national policy as well as the institutional deterioration of its different public entities and even its large companies in the private sector. The ethical crisis is reflected in the three powers of the State: the Government, the Congress and the Judiciary and has reached the so -called "fourth power" governed by the press and the media. Let us remember the famous “smoke curtains” of the 90s where remembered newspapers and television programs distorted information of national interest or hid the illegalities committed by government officials of former president Alberto Fujimori. A very usual practice during the government of the aforementioned ex-president is the psycho-social ones where "slander" through mass media was used to cancel opposition supporters in even persecuting political adversaries; Journalism professionals of the so -called “Chicha Diario” acted in collusion with the government on duty to insult and damage the honor of those who saw by convenient. On January 8, 2015, the Fourth Criminal Chamber sentenced Alberto Fujimori for eight years in prison for having diverted the funds of the Armed Forces to finance the "Chicha newspapers".
Medicine, engineering and even the right are mandatory to collect themselves to exercise the profession; Given the technical nature of these professions which deserves special care and representation, it is important for institutions to protect their ethical integrity and that the collegiate professional assumes his responsibility as such. These aspects are not oblivious to journalism; The journalist must assume the civil or criminal responsibility for the information he issues, for his statements and the conclusions of the investigations he performs. The College of Journalists of Peru enables and certifies for the exercise of the profession in any public or private institution and guarantees to these institutions that the professional practice of the journalist will be carried out under an ethical, correct and responsible framework as indicated in the subsections "C" and "F" of article N.º 1 of the Statute of the College of Journalists of Peru. On the other hand article N.º 1, subsection “A” of the Statute of the College of Journalists of Peru points out that one ends of this guild is to defend the freedom of expression and dissemination of thought in all its forms and modalities; Definitely the College of Journalists of Peru does not try to limit or restrict these aspects.
The College of Journalists of Peru fosters the mutual union and support of journalism professionals for the exchange of information and raising the professional and cultural level of its members as indicated in subsections "H" and "D" of article N.º 1 of the Statute of the College of Journalists of Peru. Since 2016 this government through congresswoman and second Vice Minister Mercedes Araoz has had some positive initiatives regarding improving the quality of the contents in television programs including news and informative programs; Faced with this, the College of Journalists of Peru has been present by expressing its total support and support for this initiative. In the last decade we have witnessed that national television prioritizes the rating with informative programs that contribute little or no value to citizens, whose content is plagued mainly of morbidity, sensationalism and violence and that even go against the radio and television law , which establishes a family schedule of 06.00 to 22.00 hours and points out that in that period of violent, obscene or other content that may affect values inherent to the family should be avoided. The position of the College of Journalists of Peru is successful in which it invokes through its pronouncement of September 12, 2016 to the National Society of Radio and Television, National Association of Advertisers, Council of the Peruvian Press and other institutions to address the Improvement in the quality of Peruvian television content. We believe that the freedom of expression and dissemination of thought becomes more relevant when with these the journalist contributes to the cultural development of the country; This purpose is mentioned in subsection "e" of article N.º 1 of the Statute of the College of Journalists of Peru.
Closing
Throughout his professional career, the journalist may be tempted to perform non -ethical acts, this temptation comes from economic powers, social or media seizures, political convictions and even for religious dogmas in front of this the book The “Ethics of Communication ”Account (1999) indicates that the communication professional (journalist) must do his work following four fundamental values: truthfulness, impartiality, completeness and justice. In our environment there are many journalism professionals who endorsed in the concept of "freedom of expression and free thought" issue irresponsible information; These professionals only respond to their own economic interests and not to the common good of our society.
The College of Journalists of Peru promotes a common order among all journalism professionals in which the ethical practice of the profession is defined and supervised, the legal and responsible freedom of expression is defended and the interconnected participation of all journalists is promoted.
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