A responsabilidade do jornalista: aspectos jurídicos e éticos

Abstract

This paper focuses the press as being an essential tool for democracy as well as on its influence over public opinion in order to assess the main ethical and legal aspects relating to professional responsibility in journalism. Disputes concerning Journalism regulations as far as its responsibilities to the media company, sources and characters imply a significant change in the profile of the journalist. His/her legal responsibility, rarely addressed by scholars, has also undergone changes, especially because of the demands of both technological advances and diversified segments of the profession. Departing from the decisions of the Supreme Court on the non-acceptance of Law 5.250/67 (Press Law) by the 1988 Constitution and the cessation of the requirement to hold a Journalism diploma to exercise this profession, both of 2009, we decided to investigate how the journalistic responsibility has been applied by the international jurisdiction in developed countries with democratic regimes. Based on these scenarios, we proposed some parameters for the regulation of Journalism in Brazil. We firstly presented civil, criminal and administrative aspects of the responsibility of the journalist. This aimed not only to show the solutions to the same problems found in other countries, but also to offer different arguments on the topic, evaluating them closely in order to find out their relevance and adequacy to the Brazilian legal system. We decided to emphasize the accountability systems of the media in American and European countries with special attention to self-regulation and the Press Councils. What facts give rise to legal liability in Journalism? Who is the journalist in Brazil? What proposals could supplement or amend the current legislation? Who has been convicted of a press crime in Brazil? Are the criteria for these convictions fair or should they be revised? This topic is of special relevance since it is ever present. Situations involving the media repeatedly call into question, all over the world, the legal, ethical, deontological and self-regulated mechanisms, to curb the abuses of the press in its mission to communicate, and, at the same time, preserve the fundamental rights of human beings. The borderline between the right to inform well and the excesses in the exercise of the profession is fine and sensitive. This is an everlasting conflicting relationship that, in Brazil, should be addressed not only in our positive law, but also in the social and cultural relations that involve the conduct of media professionals