Tajik journalists create and sign ethics code at workshop organized by the OSCE Office

DUSHANBE, 15 May 2009 - An ethics code for Tajik journalists was presented and signed in Dushanbe today as the main outcome of a two-week media self-regulation workshop initiated by three Tajik media associations and facilitated by the OSCE Office in Tajikistan and the Deutsche Welle Akademie.

"This is a great achievement because the code will serve as a guide to the everyday professional conduct of journalists," said Michael Unland, Media Officer at the OSCE Office in Tajikistan.

Nuriddin Karsheboev, head of the media association NANSMIT, added: "The code will help journalists focus on their own responsibility, and it will help develop the journalistic culture in the country."

Major media stakeholders, including heads of media associations, leading publishers and top media managers in Dushanbe co-operated to create the code during the workshop. Participants discussed the role of media self-regulation mechanisms in avoiding criminal proceedings against journalists and in promoting the de-criminalization of insult, libel and defamation. They also discussed how the code can improve ethical standards in journalism.

The workshop followed an OSCE-supported seminar for top Tajik media decision-makers held in Berlin last December.