Towards Regulating Journalism : Guidelines and Ethical Standards

Contents: Preface. 1. Introduction. 2. Journalism in India: responsibility and ethics. 3. International codes of journalism ethics. 4. Journalism ethics in Europe. 5. Journalism regulation in Americas. 6. Journalism ethics in Asia. 7. Journalism ethics in Australia and New Zealand. 8. Journalism ethics in Africa. Appendices. Glossary. Bibliography. Index.

"It is well known that freedom of speech and expression is one among the fundamental human rights, thereby freedom of press is essential in all modern systems of governance. As the famous saying goes--power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely--in the similar vein freedom, more so excessive freedom also deviates from the path of righteousness. If we owe some rights we must abide some duties also in broader social perspective. Hence the need of regulation--self or mandatory. As with other ethical codes, there is a perennial concern that the standards of journalism are being ignored. One of the most controversial issues in modern reporting is media bias, especially on political issues, but also with regard to cultural and other issues.

In the present work, we have tried to portray different aspects of regulating the press and journalism in global perspective. Many codes of journalism ethics from different countries representing different continents of the world are also reproduced." (jacket)