ResumenLa mayoría de los códigos deontológicos generalistas europeos recoge el deber profesional de los periodistas de no discriminar por razones de sexo, de etnia (o de raza) y de religión. Algunos textos van más allá y hablan del origen nacional, cultural o social, del idioma o de la ideología. El estudio se centra en el grado de asunción de dichas pautas en la praxis profesional de los periodistas de cuatro comunidades autónomas que representan el 52% de toda la población del Estado Español: Euskadi, Andalucía, Cataluña y Madrid. Partiendo de la base de que su inobservancia afecta, sobre todo, a los colectivos desfavorecidos -tales como inmigrantes, mujeres, homosexuales, discapacitados, ancianos, etc.-, a los informadores se les plantea la cuestión de si a la hora de presentar la noticia es admisible algún tipo de discriminación 'positiva'. Palabras clave: ética, deontología, periodistas, periodismo, discriminación, grupos desfavorecidos.How Spanish Journalists consider minorities and vulnerable groups should be treated by media AbstractThe majority of the general European codes include among their principles that professionals have a duty not to discriminate for reasons of sex, of etnia (or of race) and of religion. Some texts go beyond and speak about the national, cultural or social origin, language or ideology. This study focuses on how much are assumed these guidelines in the professional activity of journalists from four regions (autonomous communities) that add up to more than half of population of Spanish state (52 %): Andalusia, Catalonia, Madrid and Basque Country. The discrimination affects often to groups that are socially or economically deprived or marginalized -as immigrants, women, homosexuals, disabled and elderly peopleand, besides the usual questions that arise in this area, news people are faced with the issue whether is it admissible to act with some kind of 'positive discrimination'.

This article studies and compares the current print and broadcast media and journalism structures in the Catalan, Galician and Basque linguistic communities, and also the degree of website development among traditional media organizations (press, radio, television). The media systems serving the three autochthonous languages are studied in terms of media type, ownership and circulation. Full-time journalists working in the monolingual minority-language media organizations were assessed in terms of numbers and profiles. The relative weight of the media systems in terms of the population of speakers was also evaluated and results showed that the Catalan and Basque systems were proportionately balanced, contrary to the Galician media, which had a negative relative weight.