With the participation of 25 male and female students from the Media Faculties at the Universities of Idlib and Aleppo in the liberated areas, and journalists in northwestern Syria, Ethical Charter for Syrian Media “ECSN” held an introductory session on “the charter and the complaints mechanism”, in cooperation with the Syrian Media Association “SMA”, yesterday, Friday 03-11-2023, online via “ZOOM application”.
Melhem Al Abdullah, Executive Manager of “ECSM”, opened the session by welcoming the participants and proceeded to introduce the “ECSM” by reviewing the stages of development it has gone through since the signing of the first document of the Charter text by 20 media institutions and all the way to the signing of the Charter text by 60 media institutions. He also presented “ECSM” objectives and the most important activities it carries out.
The Board member of “SMA”, Ibrahim Zidan, spoke about the standards of the Code of Professional Conduct of the Charter, with a simplified explanation of each item regarding (Accuracy, correctness and clarity – Integrity – Respecting privacy – Respecting intellectual rights – Protection of resources – Avoiding defamation, slander and humiliation – Non-discrimination – Respecting the dignity of the victims – Avoiding encouraging violence or incitement of crime or breaching the law – Avoiding stereotyping – Avoiding fabrication and charging – Responsibility towards children – Avoiding harm and offending – Freedom of expression).
The explanation of the standards included questions and inquiries from the participants, which were answered by Ibrahim Zaidan and Melhem Al Abdullah. The participants then moved on to discuss details about the complaints mechanism in “ECSM”, its importance, and methods for submitting a complaint. Al Abdullah then answered questions about the powers of the Complaints Committee in the event of filing a complaint against a media institution, indicating that its powers are moral, not legal.
Al Abdullah also presented examples of complaints received by the committee, how it dealt with them, and the results it reached, explaining that the committee may receive complaints about institutions that have not signed the charter, and this does not fall within its powers, but nevertheless it communicates with some institutions to intervene and reach a solution that satisfies both parties.
Zidan then went on to explain the mechanism for submitting a complaint by presenting the complaint submission link on “ECSM” website, indicating the steps that the complainant must follow while submitting the complaint. During his explanation, he emphasized the confidentiality of the information that the complainant submits to the Complaints Committee, and the conversation included an answer to a question about whether the complaint can be filed against a person and not an institution.
At the end of the session, the floor was opened for discussion and questions. Some participants expressed their opinions, including that; “limiting the filing of a complaint to institutions that signed the Charter limits the Complaints Committee powers,” and “does the ECSM have the right to intervene if a governmental or military entity committed a violation”. Others asked; “whether there is a plan that guarantees employment contracts in media institutions”. Zaidan and Al Abdullah answered these questions.
The session was concluded with the presentation of the upcoming activities of “ECSM” inside Syria, which include training workshops on the standards of the Code of Conduct and monitoring and analyzing professional and ethical violations, in addition to competitions for trainee students that include producing media materials about standards of the Code of Conduct of the Charter and the Complaints Mechanism.
Regarding the introductory session, Ahmed Rahhal, a fourth-year student at the Faculty of Media and Communication at the University of Aleppo in the liberated areas, said that the information he obtained added great value to him, not only in terms of its content and extent of its importance, but also because there is an official body that sponsors it and makes every effort in coordination between media institutions and journalists, increasing the interconnection within the media component, and increasing the interconnection between it and the audience from another angle, while at the same time promoting accountability and oversight, and this is in the interest of the quality of journalistic work and the production of materials with greater professionalism. He added: “For us as journalists and media workers, what we want from the Charter is to implement it effectively and include everyone, so that we can advance the reality of the Syrian media. Therefore, we must respect this charter and raise its status and symbolism so that it becomes a ethical control and reference for all of us”.
Journalist and digital content creator, Yazan Al-Bayaa, said that he received valuable information during the session about the importance of ethics in the practice of journalism and its impact on building trust between journalists and the audience, stressing that “this added to me a deeper understanding of the necessity of complying with strict ethical standards in the journalism profession”. He noted that “cooperation between ECSM and journalists inside Syria could include providing awareness-raising trainings and workshops about the Charter, and encouraging open discussions to ensure a good understanding of these values and their application in the context of journalistic work, which ultimately leads to strengthening commitment to the Charter and enhancing the credibility and quality of the media”. He added, “Journalists want ECSM to have clear and specific guidelines for ethical behavior in journalistic work. Freedom in the press is extremely important and professional commitment to ethics enhances this freedom. This ensures the accuracy of the information provided to the public, and contributes to building a stronger and more credible media community”.
Munira Baloush, a Syrian journalist, confirmed that the information presented in the session is necessary for every journalist coming to media work, especially in a war environment, to learn about the most important principles and ethics of journalistic work, explaining that the session added important information about the complaints mechanism. Baloush indicated her desire that “ECSM” involves journalists inside Syria in ongoing workshops and trainings on the journalistic work environment, especially those working recently in the media field, and to keep abreast of events inside Syria and support journalists in the problems they may face in their work.
Hussein Khaled Al-Taweel, Operations Manager of “SMA”, confirmed that the information presented at the session was very important in terms of content, “as we learned through it the mechanism of the Charter and the Complaints Committee, and the existence of a body that guaranteed compliance with the standards of journalistic work and the right of the public to resort to ECSM as a regulating body for journalistic content to follow up on any violation, this is considered a new addition to the media inside Syria”. Al-Taweel explained, “it is very important to develop cooperation between journalists inside Syria and ECSM by reaching the largest number of journalists, informing them about ECSM work mechanism, making them aware of their rights in the necessity of adhering to the standards of journalistic work, learning more about the work mechanism of the Complaints Committee, and monitoring violations in media materials, through trainings that increase their ability to monitor these violations and follow them up with ECSM”. He pointed out that it is promising to see a body like “ECSM” specializing in monitoring media content, hoping that the number of institutions affiliated with it will increase and that its activity will increase to include larger and broader levels inside Syria.
Journalist Ahmed Al-Atrash said that “he gained a good background on the ethical standards through the session,” and continued that “the issue of developing the relationship between ECSM and journalists inside Syria is an important issue, given that the ECSM provides them with a clear and frank platform for the laws and ethical standards that journalists must adhere to commitment to it, especially since journalists want that ECSM creates a solid foundation for the journalistic content presented to be an ethical reference that preserves the value, importance and sensitivity of the profession”.
