FROM LEFT: Munira Al Subaie, Assistant Dean for Students Affairs at College of Arts and Science at QU; Dr. Kamal Hamidou, Head of the Department of Mass Communication at QU; and Solmaz Sharifi, Cultural Attaché at the US Embassy in Qatar during a session
The 3rd International Conference on Media and Communication, which concluded successfully yesterday made key recommendations to ensure ethics and professionalism in media practice.
The two-day conference was organised by the Mass Communication Department of the College of Arts and Sciences at Qatar University in cooperation with Al Jazeera Media Institute under the title ‘The Ethics of Media Practice and the Falsification of Consciousness in a Turbulent World’.
Three key recommendations were made at the conference,” said Dr. Kamal Hamidou, Head of the Department of Mass Communication at Qatar University while talking to The Peninsula on the sidelines of the conclusion ceremony.
Dr. Kamal who was a key member of the organising team of the conference said that the conference recommended to focus on the terminology of 'deontology' in place of ethic in media practice because deontology gives the meaning of mandatory obligation inviting action against the violators unlike the word ethics.
“The second recommendation is that there should be a professional association like a press club elected or selected to follow up the media practice,” said Dr. Kamal Hamidou.
“In other words, we can say an institution of deontology like what we find in medicine. If a doctor did any medial error and the complaint was filed against him, so the erring doctors is presented before the deontology organisation which has the right to take action against him,” he added. Third recommendation was teaching the media students and journalists deontology rather than ethics to develop a sense of accountability as obligation in media practice.
Professor Thomas Hanitzsch, from the Department of Media and Communication, LMU Munich, delivered the keynote speech through video conferencing on ‘Context Matters: Journalists’ Professional Ethics around the World’ on the second day of the conference.
The speech focused on media practices in many countries based on a study which includes samples from 64 countries on the issues of media ethics and those related to the media practices.
Over 40 papers were presented at the two-day conference. Four sessions each were held on both days and five papers were presented in each session.
Researchers, academics and media professionals from Arab and foreign universities and institutes participate in the conference to discuss issues and challenges related to media ethics, especially with the development of modern means of communication and the emergence of new media.
