We provide Assurance for newsrooms.

Ethical journalism and editorial decision making has never been more demanding in such a high-paced and interconnected, increasingly volatile, complex and uncertain environment we all live in.

While in principle this should boost the demand for trustworthy news, to explain, to clarify and contextualise, the real-life response seems to be the opposite: news avoidance on the side of the audiences, a drain of talent and burn-out within a craft that has always been a risky business, in many ways and for everyone involved.

Reporting exposes risks, ideally before worst comes to worst – from climate change, war or natural disasters, to corporate fraud, malpractice in politics or the occasional traffic accident. But while covering those stories, journalists and editors tend to forget that they are not immune to risk themselves – ranging from internal risks, like individual breaches of professional and ethical rules, to external risks, like SLAPPs, surveillance and censorship, or business failure.

Insulating a newsroom against risk requires an honest assessment, case and context specific, and pre-emptive measures in terms of technology, workflows and ethical compliance overall.

The GMR’s Assurance team supports media outlets of all types and sizes to manage editorial risk efficiently, and thus to operate responsibly towards stakeholders and the communities they serve.

INITIATIVES

  • Editorial Risk & Compliance Group

    The Editorial Risk&Compliance Group is a network of professionals and academia, professional associations, public entities and private sector actors.

    Our aim is to advance accountability of mass media with a risk-based approach, by exchanging best practices and providing actionable support for responsible newsroom operations.

    Questions we will deal with include: How can we optimise editorial decision making in times of uncertainty? How can we minimise risk exposure and thus enhance the safety of journalists preemptively? How can we implement a culture of compliance in editorial teams, even more so across innovative, distributed, non-institutional working models? Which strategies and tools are available, workable and efficient?

  • JTI Mentoring

    How can trustworthy journalism prevail against disinformation, and receive the visibility and viability that it deserves?

    Even if there isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer to this question, it always starts with a deep look into the mirror – or in other words: openness and editorial compliance. Tell your audiences who you are and how you work to earn their trust. But before you do, better run a thorough diagnosis of your processes and optimise, if needed, first. A useful checklist to that end is the Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI). Based on an official industry standardisation deliverable – the CEN Workshop Agreement no. 17493:2019 – it contains objectifiable criteria to self-evaluate against, and to get independently certified if wanted.

    The GMR team has participated in the development and implementation of the JTI at Reporters Without Borders and thus, is best positioned to support newsrooms of all types and sizes along their journey towards more transparency and accountability.

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