THE HAGUE, 01/11/06 - The Lower House is rejecting a Christian democrat (CDA) plan to introduce an ethics code for the media. Only the Socialists (SP) and orthodox Christian SGP party (SGP) backed the proposal by CDA MP Joop Atsma.

Atsma wanted directors of public and commercial broadcasting companies to draw up an ethics code themselves and subsequently incorporate it into the Media Act. As an example, he named the Corporate Governance Code (Tabaksblatcode). This is a code of conduct for listed companies that has proved reasonably successful.

Atsma is annoyed by increasing violence, sex and coarseness on TV. SP MP Fenna Vergeer made a similar complaint that "pimps and naked women are on TV all the time". Labour (PvdA), leftwing Greens (GroenLinks) and especially the centre-left D66, however, fiercely rejected the proposal. D66 MP Bert Bakker even drew parallels to "Ceausescu, the Ayatollahs and Putin".

PvdA MP Martijn van Dam is also a frequent complainer of deteriorating media ethics but he does not desire government intervention. Media Minister Maria van der Hoeven (CDA) shared this view. "These sort of matters should be left to the broadcasters themselves. Although I do wonder if the commercial networks are susceptible to this issue", as Van der Hoeven stated.