Peru – Journalists’ Association of Peru (1980)

Code of Professional Ethics, adopted by the Journalists’ Association of Peru, 1980.

Chapter I, General Norms
Art. 1: It is the obligation of the members to proceed in all their acts with honour, being concerned with the dignity of persons and institutions and their personal prestige and professional decorum.

Art. 2: The Code of Professional Ethics demands from the journalist the honest exercise of the profession and imposes norms to be observed in relation with society, colleagues, and mass media.

Art. 3: The members must observe the norms of this Code of Professional Ethics. The violations to it will be reported and sanctioned in conformity with the Statute for being considered indignant acts.

Chapter II, Acts against the profession
Art 4: Acts contrary to professional ethics are:
a. To accept any kind of reward which compromises information or opinion.
b. To commit intentional crimes are judicially punished;
c. To use, intentionally and voluntarily, false documents;
d. To disseminate intentionally false news;
e. To distort the truth and to adulterate it by suppressing essential facts to its understanding;
f. To provide false information without prior assurance of its truthfulness or authenticity, either with bad faith or by negligence; and
g. To denaturalise the journalistic profession by representation and/or texts which constitute an attempt against public morality, the dignity of persons and institutions, the national interests, and the symbols of the nation.

Chapter III, Relations with colleagues
Art. 5: Acts contrary to professional ethics are:
a. To plagiarise information, by not citing the source from where the news or commentary is being reproduced;
b. To attribute or impute to oneself ideas or documents of which one is not the author;
c. To aggrieve directly or indirectly the professional reputation or situation of another journalist, as well as to denigrate him/her with personal attacks or to attribute to him/her evil interests or goals.
d. To abandon other journalists who suffer persecution, exile, or jail because of their ideas, and to allow or contribute to injustices against other journalists to be committed.

Chapter IV, Relations with society
Art. 6: Acts against professional ethics are:
a. To attempt restriction against freedom of thought and expression;
b. To allow unawareness of human rights violations;
c. To allow unawareness of situations which endanger or threaten life and health;
d. To violate the right of privacy of persons;
e. To attempt restriction against the protection that family, the child, and the young deserve; and
f. Not to keep a professional secret or to use it for the benefit of others.

Chapter V, Relations with the media
Art. 7: Acts against professional ethics are:
a. To reveal reserved matters of the medium where he/she works;
b. To disseminate information and opinions, for the benefit of oneself or others, without the knowledge of the medium and receiving retribution (remuneration ?) for it;
c. To accept honorarium or salary below the established minimum.

Chapter VI, Duties of the Association
Art. 8: It is the duty of the journalist to offer his/her personal collaboration for the better accomplishment of the goals of the Association. The tasks and commissions entrusted to him/her should be accepted unless duly justified causes prevent him/her.

Chapter VII, Scope and observance of the Code
Art. 9: The norms of this Code apply to the exercise of the profession and no circumstance will excuse the membership from its observance.