Give journalists a right to refuse unethical work, union asks MPs
UK MPs are being urged by the union to give journalists a chance to report more responsibly by refusing unethical instructions from editors without losing their jobs.
The NUJ has been trying to persuade the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) to adopt a “conscience clause” in journalists’ contracts, to allow them to decline to undertake work they consider in breach of the union’s Code of Conduct.
The PCC has refused to take up the idea and now the union has put its case to the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, which is carrying out an inquiry into press standards, privacy and libel. The NUJ’s submission to the committee says a “conscience clause” would “allow reporters who feel they are being pressured to produce material that is not supported by evidence, or whose reporting is being stretched beyond credulity in its presentation, to refuse that assignment.
“We believe that journalists are responsible for their work and are therefore entitled legally to refuse instructions they consider unethical,” the submission goes on.
The clause would give journalists a case for unfair dismissal if they were sacked for refusing instructions.