Media Standards Trust

This blog was first published on the PBS MediaShift Idea Lab.

Defining principles of journalism is difficult. Rewarding, but difficult.

Back in 2005 it took the Los Angeles Times a year of internal discussions to settle on its ethical guidelines for journalists. The Committee for Concerned Journalists took four years, did oodles of research and held 20 public forums, in order to come up with a Statement of Shared Purpose with nine principles (which was subsequently fleshed out in the excellent "The Elements of Journalism" by Kovach and Rosenstiel).

Time spent thinking can then translate into a lot of principles. The BBC's editorial guidelines -- which include guidance about more than just journalism -- run to 228 pages. The New York Times' policy on ethics in journalism has more than 10,000 words. Principles needn't be so wordy. The National Union of Journalists (U.K.) code of conduct, first drafted in 1936, has 12 principles adding up to barely more than 200 words.

But, once defined, these principles serve multiple functions. They act as a spur to good journalism, as well as a constraint on bad. They provide protection for freedom of speech and of the press -- particularly from threats or intimidation by the government or commercial organizations. And they protect the public by preventing undue intrusion and providing a means of response or redress.

Principles in the Online World

In an online world, principles can serve another function. They can help to differentiate journalism from other content published on the web, whether that be government information, advertising, promotion, or institutional or personal information.

One of the key elements of hNews -- the draft microformat the Media Standards Trust developed with the AP to make news more transparent -- is rel-principles. This is a line of code that embeds a link within each article to the news principles to which it adheres. It doesn't specify what those principles should be, just that the article should link to some.

Now that lots of news sites are implementing hNews (over 200 sites implemented the microformat in January), we're getting some pushback on this. News sites, and bloggers, generally recognize that transparent principles are a good idea but, having not previously made them explicit online, many of them aren't entirely sure what they should be.

When we started working with OpenDemocracy, for example, they realized they had not made their principles explicit. As a result of integrating hNews, they now have. Similarly, the information architect and blogger Martin Belam, who blogs at currybet.net and integrated hNews in January 2010, wrote: "it turned out that what I thought would be a technical implementation task actually generated a lot of questions addressing the fundamentals of what the site is about... It meant that for the first time I had to articulate my blogging principles."

So, in an effort to help those who haven't yet defined their principles, we're in the process of gathering together as many as we can find, and pulling out the key themes.

This is where you can help.

Asking for Feedback

We've identified 10 themes that we think characterize many journalism statements of principle. This is a result of reviewing dozens of different (English language) principles statements available on the web. The statements were accessed via the very useful journalism ethics page on Wikipedia; via links provided by the Project for Excellence in Journalism; and from the Media Accountability Systems listed on the website of Donald W. Reynolds Institute of Journalism.

These themes are by no means comprehensive -- nor are they intended to be. They are a starting point for those, be they news organizations or bloggers, who are drawing up their own principles and need a place to start.

We'd really like some feedback on whether these are right, if ten is too many, if there are any big themes missing, and which ones have most relevance to the web.

Ten Themes

Our 10 themes are:

1. Public interest Example: "... to serve the general welfare by informing the people and enabling them to make judgments on the issues of the time" (American Society of Newspaper Editors)
2. Truth and accuracy Example: "[The journalist] strives to ensure that information disseminated is honestly conveyed, accurate and fair" (National Union of Journalists, UK)
3. Verification Example: "Seeking out multiple witnesses, disclosing as much as possible about sources, or asking various sides for comment... [The] discipline of verification is what separates journalism from other modes of communication, such as propaganda, fiction or entertainment" (Principles of Journalism, from Project for Excellence in Journalism)
4. Fairness Example: "... our goal is to cover the news impartially and to treat readers, news sources, advertisers and all parts of our society fairly and openly, and to be seen as doing so" (New York Times Company Policy on Ethics in Journalism)
5. Distinguishing fact and comment Example: "... whilst free to be partisan, [the press] must distinguish clearly between comment, conjecture and fact" (Editors Code of Practice, PCC, U.K.)
6. Accountability Example: "The journalist shall do the utmost to rectify any published information which is found to be harmfully inaccurate" (International Federation of Journalists, Principles on the Conduct of Journalists)
7. Independence Example: "Journalists should be free of obligation to any interest other than the public's right to know... [and] Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived" (Society of Professional Journalists)
8. Transparency (regarding sources) Example: "Aim to attribute all information to its source. Where a source seeks anonymity, do not agree without first considering the source's motives and any alternative, attributable source. Where confidences are accepted, respect them in all circumstances" (Australian Journalists Code)
9. Restraint (around harassment and intrusion) Example: "The public has a right to know about its institutions and the people who are elected or hired to serve its interests. People also have a right to privacy and those accused of crimes have a right to a fair trial. There are inevitable conflicts between the right to privacy, the public good and the public's right to be informed. Each situation should be judged in the light of common sense, humanity and the public's rights to know" (Canadian Association of Journalists)
10. Originality (i.e. not plagiarizing) Example: "An AP staffer who reports and writes a story must use original content, language and phrasing. We do not plagiarise, meaning that we do not take the work of others and pass it off as our own" (Associated Press Statement of news values and principles)

There are, of course, many excluded from here. We could, for example, have gone into much more depth in the area of "limitation from harm," which is only briefly referred to in number nine. Principles to inform newsgathering could form another whole section in itself.

There is also the growing area of commercial influence. In the U.S., the FTC has become pretty animated about bloggers taking money to promote goods while appearing to be impartial. In the online world, the line between editorial and commercial content can get pretty blurred. Right now this is just covered by number five, independence. Should there be a separate principle around independence from commercial influence?

Any and all responses are much appreciated, so please leave them in the comments. Also feel free to get in touch directly if you'd like to continue the discussion (I'm at martin DOT moore AT mediastandardstrust DOT org).
Keywords: AP, hNews, journalism, Media Standards Trust, principles