Journalists must adhere to code of ethics - Radzi Jidin

Journalists must continue to adhere to the journalism code of ethics to be recognised as professionals and differentiate themselves from those who disseminate inaccurate information.

Senior Minister (Education) Dr Radzi Jidin said currently many have become ‘journalists’ and could write and disseminate information easily due to advances in technology.

However, he said, there is a difference between journalists and these individuals in terms of accuracy of the information disseminated to the community.

“It is crucial that the world of journalism today continues to adhere to core values (core ethics) to ensure that news, information and analysis by journalists and writers are reliable.

"What is important is authenticity of the news, this is the advantage that journalists have, the threshold level used by journalists in general when you talk about validity of information, is very much higher," he said in his speech when present on behalf of Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin at the Malaysian Press Night 2020 (MWM 2020) here, last night.

In spite of that, Radzi said at times, authenticity of the information presented by journalists was not at satisfactory level.

"Indirectly, if the information given is not true, it could affect the quality or outcome of the news.

"What I see is that the core ethics should be continued so that when the public wants to refer to certain issues which have been written, the point of reference would be the writings of professional journalists as they can be relied on," he said.