Elections 2022: Journalist union recommends ethics

 Luanda - The Union of Angolan Journalists (SJA) recommends professionals from public and private media outlets in the country to be guided by ethics, pluralism and balance, ahead of campaign for the August 24 elections.

Speaking to ANGOP, on the position to be adopted by the class, the secretary general of the SJA, Teixeira Cândido, defended an electoral coverage in accordance with the law and the legal instruments that enshrine the principle of the profession.

According to the SJA leader, journalists do not need a specific deontology during the election period, but they must listen to all parties and report only facts.

He also recommended the professionals to refrain from mixing opinions with events and conveying their emotions in the content.

To him, during the electoral period and in any context, the media professional should have a correct attitude and respect professional deontology.

He acknowledges that, in this period, professionals are subject to pressure, but he said that professionals are required to develop a balanced attitude when it comes to approach and disseminate the activities of political parties and actors, always in accordance with the law and precepts of the profession.

"Indeed, in the election period, we are subject to a different pressure from ordinary days or everyday life. But we must have serenity to do journalism, because we are not players, we only convey the facts as intermediaries", he stressed.

Meanwhile, he added that the journalist must provide treatment that allows the citizen or voter to have sufficient knowledge of the content of each electoral programme and to exercise their right to vote in a conscious and not induced way.

He states that, whenever a professional is faced with matters that violate the Constitution or is forced to cover a matter that violates professional ethics and does
not allow him/her to make contradictory statement, he must invoke the Conscience Clause, laid down in the Press Law and the Law on the Journalist Statute.

The Conscience Clause is a guarantee that the law offers in the conscientious objection of not dealing with a matter, because it violates professional deontology.

Teixeira Cândido hopes that at the end of the electoral process, journalists will not be held responsible for the victory of this or that party and that the merit and demerit
will go to the political parties, their militants or candidates.