The Munich Charter of Professional Ethics for

Journalists A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

(or Declaration of the duties and rights of journalists) was signed on November 24, 1971, in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. It was later adopted by the

European Federation of Journalists The European Federation of Journalists is the European regional organisation of the International Federation of Journalists. It describes itself as the largest organisation of journalists in Europe, and says it represents about 320,000 journalists ...

, as a European reference concerning the ethical conduct of journalism, distinguishing ten duties and five rights. In the 21st century

Reporters Without Borders Reporters Without Borders (RWB; ; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organisation, non-governmental organization headquartered in Paris, which focuses on safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its a ...

(RSF) publishes the Munich Charter to be used globally.

History

The text takes up the principles of the charter of professional duties of French journalists written in 1918 and revised in 1938, to specify the rights allowing them to be respected. The name of the charter is derived from a conference organized in 1971 in Munich at the invitation of the German Journalist Association (de.

Deutscher Journalisten-Verband The Deutscher Journalisten-Verband (DJV) or German Journalists Association is among the largest journalists' organizations in Europe. The DJV has its headquarters in Berlin and has about 38,000 members. The chairman since 2003 has been the jour ...

). The French journalist Paul Parisot had drafted the declaration of the rights and duties of journalists, named in French Charte de Munich. It was signed at this conference by the attendees, all the other French journalists' unions, as well as by those of five other European common market countries (Germany, Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands) and Swiss and Austrian journalist' unions. 1985 the globally working RSF (Reporters Without Borders) organization was established. RSF amended the obligation list from 10 to 11 duties and stood with the five rights as initially published in Munich. RSF uses the Munich Charter to train journalists, protect them, and to give guidance to them and increase trust to journalism in the public. Therefore, it is published as Appendix in the training section of journalists on the RSF Website in English. The Munich Charta is endorsed by the British journalist support site
MediaWise Trust
However, only 10 duties and no rights are published by the British trust. A similar code of conduct for journalist is known from the USA also, however it is much longer and complex.

Applicability

It is claimed that the concise nature of the Munich Charter, it fits o
one printed page
and its long tradition based on over 100 years of codes of conduct for journalism in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, makes it a useful yardstick for the conduct of good journalism.

References

{{Reflist Mass media freedom Journalism organizations Journalism standards Professional ethics