Catholic church tips Malawi journalists on professionalism
Malawian journalists have been urged to discharge their duties responsibly and always adhere to ethics of the profession.
The advice was given on by Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM) General Secretary Fr. Henry Saindi.
Saindi was speaking at a recent 20th Aniversally celebration for Together Youth Magazine organized by Montfort Media.
“We need to uphold our professional ethics and disist from plagiarism and copyright which is a fundamental tool to protect the fruits of journalistic work. Members of the media must do their part and respect the important public trust they hold and the rersponsibility their work entails,” said Saindi.
Fr. Saindi reminded journalists to always uphold intergrity and professionalism and avoid publishing outrageous claims by people with vested interests without substantive evidence.
“When we journalists do ignore our responsobility to verify our stories and report accurately, we undermine the intergrity of our profession and the trust that people place in us. Intergrity and credibility are the pillars of professional journalism. If we don’t have credibility, people won’t believe what we write,” said the ECM General Secretary.
Finally, he reminded journalists that they have a big role to play in countries that are severely economically challenged like Malawi therefore also emphasizing on the need for press freedom.
“A democratic government is supposed to be accountable to the people who voted it into power and a free press informs voters about what is happening in their government and what is going on in the world around them so that they can say to their elected leaders, hey! Fix this!” he said.
He therefore wrapped up by congratulating Management, Staff and contributors of Together Youth Magazine for maintaining professional reporting and urged other publications to follow suit.
The advice comes as media practitioner and other stakeholders including politicians are still fighting for the enactment of the Access To Information Bill (ATI).
This is a bill that will give journalists an opportunity to have access to any information concerning the public at anytime without restrictions but it has been twisted and dodged by the Democratic Progressive Party led government (DPP).
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