The Catalan Press Council, a case of media accountability

Abstract

Just when there is a greater need for press self-regulation systems that allow the recovery of social confidence in journalism, the Catalan Press Council (CIC in Catalan) is losing media support. Both the economic crisis and inappropriate policies of the Catalan Government have contributed to this decline. However, a reent study shows that CIC has been a useful media accountability system in its first 16 years of activity. The results of this study and other European press council statistics concur in their trends. It is also clear that the Catalan media must make an effort to recover their journalistic values and principles in order to restore society’s confidence and to safeguard the future of journalism itself.

KEYWORDS: press council, media accountability, accuracy, self-regulation, ethical code.