The Ethical Journalism Network (EJN), in partnership with UNESCO and supported by the European Union (EU), started a new project aimed at the media outlets in the Western Balkans and Turkey. As one of the partners in the Building Trust in Media in South-East Europe: Support to Journalism as a Public Good project, the EJN will work on strengthening media accountability and transparency through sustainable self-regulation mechanisms.
The UNESCO’s project is aimed at fostering media ethics, rights-based regulation of digital platforms and online media, as well as adopting Media and Information Literacy (MIL) policies and integrating them into formal education.
The EJN has been working with media outlets in South-East Europe and Turkey on performing a self-assessment exercise of their commitment to good governance and ethical and professional standards – also called ethical audits since 2016. We helped more than 30 media to perform ethical audits through the Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI) led by the Reporters Without Borders (RSF). In Phase 3 of our joint work with UNESCO, we will focus on specific mechanisms to improve the commitment of media outlets to defined professional and ethical standards and to increase their transparency towards citizens. We will also work more closely with press councils and self-regulatory bodies in the Western Balkans and Turkey.
For more information on the resources and about the media who have completed the ethical audits, please click here.
Main image: A big Sony CineAlta XDCAM HD shoulder camcorder of a news TV channel is seen at a news event in Bucharest, Romania. Image courtesy of LCV/Shutterstock