Lajme flash
Should journalists protest?
2026-07-16 14:17:25 / IDE
There is an ethical standard in the journalistic profession that does not allow one to protest the causes they report on, otherwise they are considered biased.
I had this dilemma myself, before I decided to go to the protest. I decided to go because I felt that the cause being protested belonged to me too: as a journalist and as a citizen. Without judging anyone who chose not to participate in the protest because they thought it violated ethics, I am explaining how I saw this case:
Can we talk about standards of journalistic ethics when our rights as citizens and journalists are trampled on with both feet?!
Can we talk about ethics in a country where most of the instruments that establish the balance in a functional democracy (parliament, judiciary, presidency and most independent institutions, civil society, media, etc.) do not perform their function?!
Can we talk about ethical standards and violation of bias in reporting, when in the first days almost no media outlets covered the protest, when no one mentioned the names of local investors in Zvërnec, and when we saw the beating of protesters there on social media because none of the traditional media outlets had sent a journalist?
What is the biggest breach of ethics for a journalist: to protest and report (being considered biased) or to be censored?!
Should we as journalists come out to protest the damage that the government has done to our profession, where every year we are ranked low in the media freedom index and dozens of reports speak of their arrests and pressure on journalists?!
Morality and ethics are two concepts that move and change depending on the context.
One cannot talk about journalistic ethics in a country where citizens' rights have been trampled on, where the voice of citizens is not heard and the problems they face are not reported.
The protest began as a civic revolt when most of the instruments that make a democratic system functional fell. No one spoke about the interests of the citizen, not the government, not the independent institutions, not the largest opposition party, not most of the media and part of civil society.
Under these conditions, public interest prevails over any ethical journalism manual!
Therefore, it is not surprising that during the first few days when no media outlets were broadcasting the protest, the square was filled with journalists and media workers.
They were there to deliver the message that democracy doesn't work. And in a country where democracy doesn't work, where society isn't free and the media is suppressed, there's no way you can ask someone to stay home and respect ethics!
Po ndodh...
Rama's government no longer has enough Berisha!
Nga Indrit Gjyzeli
ide
top
Wall Street Journal: Gangsteri që ka futur në telashe dhëndrin e Trump me marrëveshjet në Shqipëri
Eliot Brown, Vladimir Karaj
TRENDING 
shërbime
- POLICIA129
- POLICIA RRUGORE126
- URGJENCA112
- ZJARRFIKESJA128