Parliament of Worlds Religion 1999 Capetown SA

Author(s): Parliament of the World’s Religions
Publisher: USA Parliament of the Worlds Religions

Page 37

A
CALL TO OUR GUIDING INSTITUTIONS
THE CALL TO THE ARTS AND COMMUNICATIONS MEDIA
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2
3
demands accurate and truthful reporting. Privacy and intimacy must be honored. Art or journalism that degrades or injures individuals or communities must be avoided. Any calls to hate or to violence must be rejected.
C We call on the institutions of the arts and communications media to develop practical ways to engage creatively with other guiding institutions in pursuit of a just, peaceful, and sustainable world.
Today, movies, television, the music industry, the news media, and the Internet have unprecedented significance as sources of information and influence on cultural life and social change. What is our role as consumers and patrons in shaping the character of art and media? How can we best employ the technologies of the near future for education and enrichment and not merely for entertainment? How can we better recognize, understand, nurture, and be nurtured by the presence of artistic genius?
In this spirit, we invite all individuals, communities, groups, and organizations engaged with the institutions of the Arts and Communications Media to reassess their roles for the next century.
Each is invited
DECEMBER
to develop and disseminate common statements of ethical standards and practices-where possible, across cultures and disciplines-addressing such issues as the universal professional code for news media, socially responsible journalism, and commitments to crosscultural understanding;
to design coherent, widely-acceptable approaches to such issues bearing on the news media as rights of privacy, rules of investigational conduct, remedies for misreporting or misquotation, and retractions for the mistaking or perpetuating of rumor as fact;
to safeguard the means and open up the methods of global communication so that they serve all segments of society equitably:
1999
PARLIAMENT
OF THE
99
WORLD'S RELIGIONS