The law sets a group of situations that represent an incompatibility with the journalist profession.
The journalist who is covered by any of the incompatibilities identified by law is prohibited of pursuing his/her activity. In fact, he/she must deposit the professional license in the CCPJ. The license will be returned to the journalist, by his/her demand, as soon as the incompatibility situation is over.
The following functions/situations are considered incompatible with the journalist profession:
1. Functions of procurement, conception or presentation of advertising messages, via texts, voice or image;
2. Participation in initiatives that aim to disseminate products, services or entities via the personal or institutional reputation of the journalist is also considered to constitute advertising activity, which is incompatible with the pursuit of journalism, when such participation is not determined by purely editorial criteria;
3. Functions of procurement, conception or presentation of advertising messages;
4. Functions of marketing, public relations, press advisory and communication or image consulting services, as well as planning, orientation and execution of commercial strategies;
5. Functions in information and security services or in any police agency or corporation;
6. Military service;
7. Functions as holders of positions in sovereign bodies:
- President of the Republic;
- Member of the Assembly of the Republic;
- Member of the Government;
- Judge;
8. Functions as holders of other political positions, namely:
- Ministers of the Republic for the Autonomous Regions;
- Members of the Regional Government;
- Ombudsman of Justice;
- Civil Governor;
- Member of the European Parliament;
9. Elected Member of the Legislative Assemblies of the Autonomous Regions;
10. Functions of political or technical advisory services associated to such positions;
11. Executive functions, on a permanent basis, either full time or part time, in a local government authority.
Performance of the following unpaid voluntary actions is not incompatible with the pursuit of the profession of a journalist:
1. Promotion of activities of public interest or charity work;
2. Promotion of the informational activity of the media outlet for which the journalist works or collaborates.
As stated above, once the incompatibility is over, the journalist must require the return of the professional license if he/she returns to the journalistic activity. This request depends on the nature of the incompatible functions that the journalist exercised.
Once the following functions are over…
a) Functions of procurement, conception or presentation of advertising messages;
b) Participation in initiatives that aim to disseminate products, services or entities via the personal or institutional reputation of the journalist is also considered to constitute advertising activity, which is incompatible with the pursuit of journalism, when such participation is not determined by purely editorial criteria;
… and if you want to recover the license, please bear in mind that the incompatibility will remain in force for a minimum period of three months from the date of the last disclosure and will only be considered to have ceased upon exhibition of proof of the termination of the contractual relationship involving assignment of the journalist’s image, voice or name to the promoter or beneficiary of the advertising initiative.
In the case of advertising messages, the journalist cannot, for a 6-month period, develop his/her activity in editorial areas related to the function that he/she performed, as recognized by the editorial board of the media outlet for which he/she works or collaborates.
Once the following functions are over…
a) Functions of procurement, conception or presentation of advertising messages;
b) Functions of marketing, public relations, press advisory and communication or image consulting services, as well as planning, orientation and execution of commercial strategies;
… and if you want to recover the license, please bear in mind that the journalist cannot, for a 6-month period, carry out his/her activity in editorial areas related to the function that he/she performed, as recognized by the editorial board of the media outlet for which he/she works or collaborates.
For all the other functions aforementioned, the journalist will have to exhibit a proof of the termination of the contractual relationship that involved those functions.