Under the European Union/Council of Europe Joint Programme “Strengthening the Capacity of the Turkish Judiciary on Freedom of Expression”, the sixth roundtable meeting on “Freedom of Expression and Press Ethics” was organized on 28 September 2016 in Ankara, Turkey.

The meeting brought together representatives of the judiciary working on press-related cases, academics, members of press, representatives from Press Council, Turkish Journalists Association, NGOs, Amnesty International, Association of Judicial Unity as well as lawyers and other public institutions.

The major objective of this meeting was to raise awareness among judiciary on the role of press ethics and journalists’ conduct, while protecting freedom of expression, and its impact on judicial work.

Mr Aidan White, Director and Chief Executive Officer, Ethical Journalism Network (http://ethicaljournalismnetwork.org/), stressed that “journalism is not free speech, it is constrained expression. Accuracy, independence, impartiality, humanity and accountability are the core values of ethical journalism”. Ms Pınar Türenç, Director, Press Council in Turkey, made a presentation on the work and good practices of the Press Council in relation to press ethics of media professionals.

The participants mainly discussed the ethical rules of the press in the context of violation of the right to reputation, protection of private life, the presumption of innocence, the effectiveness and shortcomings of supervisory mechanisms for journalists in cases where there are breaches of ethical rules and the right of correction.