LEITAO, Otília. Does the journalist's freedom of conscience need specific protection for the sake of independence in his work, pluralism and democracy?. []. , 18, 32, pp.55-71. ISSN 1645-5681.

Few know the real depth of the guarantee of independence and the conscience clause (Article 12 of the Journalist Statute). It is rare that those who invoke it, and others, in the face of precarious work, prefer to turn the wrongs of those who try to submit. In this new age of citizen appropriation of new technologies that foster freedom of expression and demand greater credibility for the modus of journalism, the need for new practices, rights and duties in a more interactive performance, framed in an increasingly global ethic. In this sense, it is important to reflect the relevance of the reevaluation of the "conscience clause" as a right to journalism and healthy democracy, an irreducible principle of dignity and that assumes for journalists a marked specificity for the "immateriality" of their work or, of a complementary mechanism that guarantees the independence of the journalistic work according to the recognized ethical and ethical rules and that, makes the journalist responsible, but also the media to whom they work.

: journalists; conscience clause; pluralism; ethic.

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