The IĠM will support all bona fide journalists in their quest for professionalism
The IĠM notes the story carried by the Times of Malta on an alleged attempt by a lawyer to bribe a journalist and would like to make the following points:
- Ivan Martin is to be applauded for his handling of the situation, given that it cannot have been easy at all. Such situations normally take one by surprise and experience and integrity play a great part in such cases.
- For a journalist to accept a bribe, a most basic ethical principle would have been breached. Indeed, this ethical principle does not apply only to journalists but to all professions. Bribery, and accepting a bribe is a criminal act.
- This criminal act happened on the very day that the international community was celebrating the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists. We urge the Times of Malta to take definitive steps to follow the case up with the relevant authorities.
- The fact that an experienced defence lawyer mis-read the journalist’s outreach is serious enough in itself. To add to that a flagrant assumption that for the journalist to do his work, he needed a bribe speaks volumes on the kind of society we are living in today. This debasement of the concept of duty and professionalism shows that the wine of values has really reached the dregs.
Finally, the IĠM notes that this is the sort of miasma which is plaguing society and which journalists face, in various forms daily. This time it was money, but really, from threats to bullying, to trolling, to SLAPP to bribery, the whole gamut of corrupt practices is an ongoing drag. The IĠM will support all bona fide journalists in their quest for professionalism.