NewsWhore
04-07-2009, 01:30 PM
President Leonel Fernandez is proposing to include the judicial issue of professional confidentiality and an integrity clause in the debates on constitutional reform, in order to protect journalism in the country.
The Chief Executive announced his idea during a ceremony held at the Presidential Palace yesterday for the Day of the Journalist, after he was asked about the case of a newspaper reporter who received a call from a prosecutor asking to reveal her sources. "Taking all this into account, I think that we are still in time, why not, to pass a strictly ethical concession in the Code of Ethics of the Dominican College (of Journalists), as well as to include in the Constitution the professional confidentiality and the integrity clause in the new Constitution of the Dominican Republic," suggested Fernandez. Nevertheless, according to Diario Libre, both the ideas that he suggested are already in the legislative proposal for constitutional reform that he, himself, submitted to Congress on 18 September 2008. These ideas are contained in Article 40, Point 3 that deals with the rights of freedom of expression. "Professional confidentiality and the integrity clause of a journalist will be protected by the law", is what it says on the Presidential webpage that contains the proposed amendments to the Constitution. Fernandez said that the Spanish Constitution is the only one that protects these judicial rights, and that if approved the Dominican version would be the second in the world.
The audience at the event, mainly reporters and journalists who filled the Caryatides Room at the Presidential Palace, applauded the proposal. The idea was also welcomed by the president of the Dominican College of Journalists (CDP), Mercedes Castillo, who described it as "excellent".
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#5)
The Chief Executive announced his idea during a ceremony held at the Presidential Palace yesterday for the Day of the Journalist, after he was asked about the case of a newspaper reporter who received a call from a prosecutor asking to reveal her sources. "Taking all this into account, I think that we are still in time, why not, to pass a strictly ethical concession in the Code of Ethics of the Dominican College (of Journalists), as well as to include in the Constitution the professional confidentiality and the integrity clause in the new Constitution of the Dominican Republic," suggested Fernandez. Nevertheless, according to Diario Libre, both the ideas that he suggested are already in the legislative proposal for constitutional reform that he, himself, submitted to Congress on 18 September 2008. These ideas are contained in Article 40, Point 3 that deals with the rights of freedom of expression. "Professional confidentiality and the integrity clause of a journalist will be protected by the law", is what it says on the Presidential webpage that contains the proposed amendments to the Constitution. Fernandez said that the Spanish Constitution is the only one that protects these judicial rights, and that if approved the Dominican version would be the second in the world.
The audience at the event, mainly reporters and journalists who filled the Caryatides Room at the Presidential Palace, applauded the proposal. The idea was also welcomed by the president of the Dominican College of Journalists (CDP), Mercedes Castillo, who described it as "excellent".
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#5)