JTI News

11 May, 2023

Reporters Without Borders Partners (RSF) With NewsGuard to launch Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI) Emergency Protocol to Support Ukraine’s Quality News Media 

This crisis response mechanism will help newsrooms in at-risk markets, starting with Ukraine, to accelerate their validation according to the Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI) and to quickly get their NewsGuard rating, thereby allowing advertisers, funders and tech companies to support endangered journalism. 

13 April, 2023

Newsback implements RSF Journalism Trust Initiative certification

The JTI partnership coincides with Newsback’s plans to extend its repository of UK media. Newsback shows the journey of a piece of content, right back to its provenance, to demonstrate its authenticity, dissemination, and potential misuse. The Newsback repository currently includes BBC Online and some national and regional newspapers with search history going back three years. This will grow in terms of number of media outlets and search history.

Several media organisations in the UK are in the JTI certification process, which includes internal self-assessment of journalistic policies, public disclosure of that assessment in a transparency report and an independent audit from a licensed, certified body. 

3 March, 2023

Lithuanian Public Service Media LRT awarded the Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI) certification

Lithuania’s public broadcaster LRT consolidates its efforts towards high ethical standards thanks to the Journalism Trust Initiative certification. 

Lietuvos nacionalinis radijas ir televizija (LRT), Lithuania’s public broadcaster, became the first public media organisation in the Baltic countries to be awarded the Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI) certification mark rewarding trustworthy journalism. LRT's compliance with the JTI standard was independently assessed by international audit firm Deloitte.

14 February, 2023

The independent Russian TV channel Dozdh (TV Rain) obtains the Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI) certification

Russian language channel TV Rain becomes the first media in exile to obtain the Journalism Trust Initiative. This channel has proven its independence from the Kremlin for years. This certification proves the utility of JTI in front of despotic regimes.

3 October, 2022

ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB) accredits Alliance for Audited Media (AAM) to certify in accordance with the Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI) Certification Programme

The ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB), a wholly owned subsidiary of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), has accredited the not-for-profit media auditor Alliance for Audited Media (AAM) to conduct independent audits to determine media outlets' compliance with the Journalism Trust Initiative's (JTI) standard for ethics and trustworthiness in journalism.

With the accreditation, AAM becomes the first U.S. certifier of the JTI standard in accordance with ISO/IEC 17065, Conformity assessment—Requirements for bodies certifying products, processes, and services, under JTI's certification programme scheme requirements. AAM's achievement of this accreditation will support greater trustworthiness in an era where it has become increasingly difficult to distinguish information shaped by vested interests from facts produced by independent and impartial news professionals.

12 November, 2021

JTI receives support at the Paris Peace Forum

The Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI) was featured on a high-level panel at the Paris Peace Forum. Participants, including the European Commission’s Vice-President Vera Jourova, emphasized the importance of the Initiative to reward reliable journalism and to support a healthier information ecosystem at large. Read the RSF press release here and watch the full event below.

29 July, 2021

Conversation on Trustworthy Journalism as an Antidote to Disinformation

Watch our one-hour webinar, co-produced with ReNEWS, that features colleagues from prominent news organizations around the world, like CBC/Radio-Canada, RTÉ and exit.al, sharing their experiences with JTI's web offer designed to identify and reward trustworthy news sources.

18 May, 2021

Launched on May 18, the JTI online platform represents new dawn for media integrity, transparency and sustainability

  • Reporters Without Borders (RSF) launches new web offer designed to identify and reward trustworthy news sources;
  • Media outlets can use the online app to check, disclose and promote compliance of their editorial processes with best practices;
  • The initiative represents a radical and innovative step forward in the battle against disinformation.

International non-governmental organisation Reporters Without Borders (RSF) announces today the public launch of its Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI), a game-changing transparency tool designed to promote trustworthy journalism. At the core of the JTI is the self-assessment of media outlets to diagnose, optimize and promote the accuracy of their journalism, with the aim of building a healthier news ecosystem, identifying and rewarding reliable reporting and restoring audiences’ confidence in journalism at large. more

Archive

11 August, 2021

ANAB accepting pilot accreditation program applications

The ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB), a wholly owned subsidiary of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), has launched a new pilot accreditation program for the Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI) – Certification Program. more

2 July, 2021

False story about decuplets was a low point for journalism: how to fix the damage

It is difficult to imagine a bigger journalistic disaster than the recent decuplets story by Pretoria News, based in South Africa’s capital city. But it may present an opportunity to think anew about what could be done to address journalism’s crisis of trust" – writes Franz Krüger for The Conversation and suggest to consider the JTI as a remedy. more

23 June, 2021

RTÉ NEWS FIRST TO SIGN UP NEW TO GLOBAL JOURNALISM TRUST INITIATIVE

RTÉ has underlined its commitment to trusted journalism with the announcement that it will be the first Irish media organisation to sign up to the global Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI). RTÉ News & Current Affairs are signing up to the JTI pledge and will begin using their online transparency tool, designed to promote trustworthy journalism. more

Strengthening Ethical Media Standards in Albania and Serbia

5 May, 2021 | AN EJN PROJECT IN PARTNERSHIP WITH UNESCO

The Ethical Journalism Network (EJN) is supporting the media partners in South East Europe and Turkey to conduct the ethical audits – a useful tool for ensuring sustainability and competitiveness in the digital age, as well as to avoid many issues that can stem from reckless reporting. In 2020 the EJN coached and mentored several media outlets from Albania and Serbia who have shown a strong commitment to ethical standards and procedures. Eight of them finalised the 150-questions-long JTI questionnaire. more

Explaining the global JTI movement, Olaf Steenfadt, the Project Director of the JTI at Reporters Without Borders(RSF), says that ”the road-testing of our JTI questionnaire in this region is an important and encouraging experience. We see already tangible improvements in editorial processes and external transparency of participating media outlets, which is clearly a win-win for everyone involved.” 

In this 'Ethics in the News' Podcast, Olaf explains the importance of JTI and its results so far.

26 April, 2021

Case study: Exit.al and the Journalism Trust Initiative

In early 2020, Exit.al was approached to take part in the Journalism Trust Initiative. It was hot on the heels of the Albania government passing the first draft of a law that would essentially bring all online media under the direct control and supervision of the state. This was due to Prime Minister Edi Rama had belief that the majority of online media is unethical, slanderous, “trash”, and unprofessional.

The idea of conducting the audit seemed to be perfect timing. more

27 November, 2020

Road to transparent journalism: UNESCO is road-testing JTI in South-Easter Europe

UNESCO and its project partner, the Ethical Journalism Network, is supporting media outlets in South East Europe to perform a self-assessment exercise. It follows the professional standards and principles of the Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI) and can help qualify media outlets to become a part of the media community branded as recognising the standards and benchmarks for editorial quality and management. more

8 July, 2020

European Commission awards grant to support Reporters without borders’ Journalism Trust Initiative in Europe

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is pleased to announce the signature of a grant agreement with the European Commission to support the implementation of its ‘Journalism Trust Initiative’ (JTI) in Europe. more

14 September, 2019

Brexit divisions and angry social media discourse encourage tribal journalism where blind loyalty takes priority over facts

In an era of 'activist' newspapers, the need for a balanced approach has never been greater. more

5 September, 2019

Reporters Without Borders Announces $1.5M Gift from Craig Newmark Philanthropies to Support Transparency and Ethics in News and Media

Gift from craigslist founder’s foundation to facilitate implementation of Journalism Trust Initiative. more

9 August, 2019

What the heck is the Journalism Trust Initiative? And why should I care?

If you are reading this, you may have heard something about the Journalism Trust Initiative. Maybe you saw it on the agenda of the SPJ Excellence in Journalism conference. It’s hard keeping all these misinformation-fighting efforts straight, and the ground keeps shifting. more

18 July, 2019

It is up to journalists to define ‘trustworthy’ news

The initiatives to stop the spread of disinformation abound, but the phenomenon continues to rise. It not only undermines journalism, but also people’s trust in the media, resulting in the growing problem of news avoidance. What if journalists took matters in their own hands? That’s the goal of the Journalism Trust Initiative. more

2 July, 2019

RSF and partners launch a public consultation on the Journalism Trust Initiative

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and its partners AFP, EBU and GEN are pleased to announce the launch of a public consultation about their Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI) on July 3rd. JTI aims at defining indicators for trustworthy journalism. Compliance with them is expected to provide tangible benefits for media outlets, big and small, and thus, support them to cater to a healthy information space at large. more

4 February, 2019

More than 100 media outlets and organizations are backing the Journalism Trust Initiative

The Journalism Trust Initiative, proposed and organized by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and its partners, EBU, AFP and GEN, is entering its decisive phase this week. The second out of four workshops under the European Committee for Standardization’s (CEN) rules will be hosted by UNESCO in its Paris headquarters on Tuesday, 5 February. ​more

28 November, 2018

Russian foreign minister criticizes RSF’s trustworthy journalism work

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) deplores Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov’s criticism of the Journalism Trust Initiative at a time when the defence of trustworthy journalism – meaning journalism that is free, independent and rigorous – is a major challenge for democratic societies and humankind as a whole. ​more

3 April, 2018

RSF and its partners unveil the Journalism Trust Initiative to combat Disinformation

An innovative media self-regulatory initiative designed to combat disinformation online – called the Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI) – was launched today by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), and its partners Agence France Presse (AFP), the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the Global Editors Network (GEN). more