Editor proposes conscience clause to protect journalists

Conscience clause in the contract of employment for journalists should be introduced to protect them if they refuse to undertake an unethical task.

In making this proposal, Bob Teoh, editor-at-large of mysinchew.com, said the clause also meant journalists could claim compensation if they decided to leave the organisation.

"If I don't agree with my newspaper over an assignment that I am caught in, to making an unethical report, or if I don't agree with the change of the ideological stand of the newspaper, then I can exercise the conscience clause.

"The clause is to protect journalists even when they refuse to work under unethical conditions, or being forced to write unethical things," he said at a forum entitled, 'Media and Ethics in Malaysia', here today. He said the conscience clause had been introduced in Spain since 1997.

"In 1997, Spain introduced Organic Act number 2, where the conscience clause was included, or made part of the statute.

"Last year, Lord Justice Leveson acknowledged the proposal by the National Union of Journalists of Britain to include conscience clause as a working condition for journalists," added Teoh.