‘Follow the law’: Legacy media’s digital association issues code of ethics

The Digital News Publishers Association has put out a code of ethics that enjoins its members to ensure “high standards, ethics and practices in digital news publishing”. The code isn’t binding, though, and the members are expected to comply in good faith, Medianama reported.

The DNPA, launched in 2018, is a grouping of newspapers and TV channels that also publish online. It doesn’t represent digital-only news organizations such as Newslaundry.

“The release of the ethics code came a day after the government handed DNPA members a business victory by limiting the direct foreign investment a digital news media company, including aggregators, can get to 26 percent,” Medianama pointed out. “This move essentially made it as difficult for digital-only publications to raise funds from abroad as it has been for traditional media.”

The code urges the DNPA members to follow the existing law and take “special care” when covering “courts and judicial matters”; adhere to “accepted norms of journalistic ethics and practices”; not publish false information; preserve the “presumption of innocence” while covering “sensational issues and crime”; take down “incorrect” reports.

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