Ethical violations in the TRNC Press
“News and photo plagiarism ranks first in ethical violations”
Ethical violations in the TRNC Press were discussed at the event organized by the Department of Public Relations and Advertising of Cyprus International University (CIU), Faculty of Communication.
Department of Public Relations and Advertising Lecturer Dr. Engin Aluç, in his presentation entitled "Ethical Violations in the TRNC Press and the Media Ethics Committee" discussed the Media Ethics Committee, and the ethical violations in media and their solutions.
Aluç, who is also the Representative of the Media Ethics Committee of CIU, stated that at the meeting called " Media Ethics Declaration" held by the Cyprus Turkish Journalists Association in 2011, it was decided to create a Media Ethics Declaration, and noted that the first meeting of the Media Ethics Committee was held in 2013.
Dr Aluç in his speech, also gave information regarding the reader complaints about TRNC press received by the Media Ethics Committee; furthermore, he explained what the most common ethical violations are and suggested the steps that can be taken to prevent these violations.
Stating that institutions or organizations that commit ethical violations are given warnings, reminders or reprimands, Aluç said that in case of violations, the board warns the organization concerned; and in case of repetitive violations, the organizations is reprimanded for its misconduct.
Aluç stated that the most prominent ethical violations in the TRNC Press are plagiarizing news and photographs, not confirming the source, the principle of innocence, insulting and humiliating statements, writing the full names of people who committed suicide and serving their photos to the press, using the photo and name of the raped victim in news, in attacks on personality rights, hate speech, and using the full names of the suspects in news related to drugs and in other crime related news.
Noting that the Media Ethics Board, which not only makes decisions on ethical violations in the TRNC press but is also in a position to remind of these decisions over and over again; however, the Board does not have the power to impose sanctions. Aluç also stated that same or different media organizations repeated the ethical violations in this process.
In addition to the CIU Faculty of Communication, faculty members from the Faculty of Law Assist. Prof. Dr. Mustafa Erçakıca, Assist. Prof. Dr. Erdem Ertürk and Lecturer Çiçek Göçkün also participated in the event, and made suggestions about the research. The seminar ended with evaluations of the ethical violations in news from past to present.