Belarusian media unite: 18 outlets launch new ethical self-regulation system

Fif­teen edi­to­r­i­al teams from inde­pen­dent media out­lets and three media orga­ni­za­tions have signed an agree­ment on the self-reg­u­la­tion of the inde­pen­dent media sec­tor, along with the new Code of Con­duct for Belaru­sian Jour­nal­ists. Around ten oth­er inde­pen­dent pub­li­ca­tions are con­sid­er­ing join­ing the agree­ment.

The signed agree­ment restores the sector’s eth­i­cal self-reg­u­la­tion sys­tem through the Media Ethics Board, which replaces the BAJ Ethics Com­mis­sion that was forced to cease oper­a­tions in 2021.

The agree­ment pro­vides for the cre­ation of the Media Ethics Board, which will review com­plaints regard­ing eth­i­cal vio­la­tions. Board mem­bers will be nom­i­nat­ed and elect­ed through a com­pet­i­tive process by the edi­to­r­i­al offices that have joined the agree­ment and the Code.

Thus, a new sys­tem of eth­i­cal self-reg­u­la­tion and com­plaint review for media con­tent is being intro­duced in the Belaru­sian media sec­tor.

The launch of the new sys­tem was com­ment­ed on by Aleh Aheyeu, Deputy Chair­man of BAJ and head of the organization’s Legal Cen­ter.

“Today, a deci­sion has been made to estab­lish a self-reg­u­la­tion body for the Belaru­sian inde­pen­dent media sec­tor.

March 20 will go down in the his­to­ry of inde­pen­dent media because the cre­ation of this self-reg­u­la­tion body is tru­ly a rea­son for pride. Sim­i­lar bod­ies exist in many demo­c­ra­t­ic coun­tries in var­i­ous formats—some with state involve­ment, some with­out. Our expe­ri­ence is unique because, despite these dark times, 18 enti­ties in the inde­pen­dent media sec­tor have agreed not only to par­tic­i­pate in cre­at­ing this body but also to adopt eth­i­cal stan­dards and com­mit to adher­ing to them.”

Today’s deci­sion will help improve the qual­i­ty of inde­pen­dent jour­nal­ism. This, in turn, ensures that Belaru­sian soci­ety will con­tin­ue to receive truth­ful and high-qual­i­ty infor­ma­tion about what is hap­pen­ing in Belarus, to Belarus, and to Belaru­sians.

These pol­i­cy papers remain open for oth­ers to join. The Agree­ment on the Estab­lish­ment of the Self-Reg­u­la­tion Body out­lines the pro­ce­dure for join­ing. Any media edi­to­r­i­al office or media orga­ni­za­tion that meets the spec­i­fied cri­te­ria can sub­mit an appli­ca­tion to BAJ to become a mem­ber of the Media Assem­bly and par­tic­i­pate in form­ing the Media Ethics Board.

Aleh Aheyeu empha­sizes that with­in 60 days, BAJ must orga­nize elec­tion for the Media Ethics Board. The Media Assem­bly should begin oper­at­ing in ear­ly May, so BAJ will imme­di­ate­ly start prepar­ing for the elec­tion.

“I want to remind every­one that one can join the co-founders of the Media Assem­bly through self-nom­i­na­tion. And Media Assem­bly mem­bers can nom­i­nate can­di­dates for the Media Ethics Board elec­tion. The adopt­ed doc­u­ments, includ­ing today’s amend­ments, will be avail­able on the BAJ web­site on Mon­day. We invite every­one who finds this work impor­tant to join the Media Assem­bly and the elec­tion for the Media Ethics Board,” adds the Deputy Chair­man of BAJ.

The agree­ment has been joined by Belaru­sian media out­lets and media orga­ni­za­tions that are cur­rent­ly oper­at­ing from Geor­gia, Lithua­nia, Poland, and the Czech Repub­lic.