Izkušnje samoregulacije v medijih

Journalists and the media in Slovenia have developed modern self-regulation instruments rather late, following the opening of media space in the early 1990’s. Transition in “traditional” media and rapid development and establishment of new media have left the ethical and professional bodies (as well as the professional education programmes) little time and space to develop broad, stable and widely applicable common professional standards. While some media (major dailies and TV stations) follow the ethical and professional standards more strictly, the same can not be stated for many smaller and newly established media, having a tendency to picture events (including the coverage of judiciary) in rather yellowish colours, whereas personal privacy, presumption of innocence and related legal institutes are widely ignored. Slovene Association of Journalists and the Union of Slovene Journalists have established a common self-regulation body – the Journalists Ethics Council, with the principle role to strengthen the application of ethical and professional standards amongst journalists. However, the problem of efficiency and impact of the Ethics Council’s derives from the fact, that it’s decisions have only “moral” implications and are not executable as (court) judgements and administrative decisions. Self-regulation on a personal level is many times attached to self-censorship, a phenomena that is closely linked to rather poor employment position of Slovene journalists, whereas professional standards are many times exchanged for a (small) salary.