Controversial issues surrounding the instances of deontological control of journalists in the field of right to information

Abstract

The right to information is a fundamental pillar of the democratic State of which journalists are not the sole holders although they are the ones who extol. On the other hand, there is no a concrete definition of these but one that might be considered ambiguous offered by the Constitutional Court to avoid, really, an unconstitutional interpretation of the right to inform and the guarantees in its exercise. Professional ethics of journalist activity, gathered in different codes of conduct, aims to protect journalists, information and the right to inform itself about the impact they have on the free public opinion, fundamental political institution in a democratic State. Nevertheless it cannot make this protective function effective because there is no control over the offenses that could be committed. And this control does not exist because it has not come near to a consensus regarding the nature that must govern such control, public or private. This facilitates the media exceed the codes themselves treating information as a commodity that can be manufactured and be manufactured, given the market pressures to be better, so the activity of information professionals is subordinated to those, with the consequences that it carries for the public opinion formation and the democratic State itself.