Introducing the Photography Ethics Toolkit | The latest EJN blogs on ethics in journalism + Our global media ethics roundup.
12 October 2018
Introducing the Photography Ethics Toolkit
By Savannah Dodd
The Photography Ethics Centre was founded less than one year ago with the intention of raising awareness about ethics across the photography industry and around the world. Before the Photography Ethics Centre was founded, when it was just an idea, we knew that we were biting off more than we could chew. How could a small organisation possibly tackle such an enormous task? We knew that we would never be able to cover enough ground to make a dent in this global problem. The solution, we decided, is online training.
When the Ethical Journalism Network heard our plans, they jumped on board to support us. EJN connected us to the Thomson Foundation, who now hosts the training through their online platform, Journalism Now. They then connected us to Kate Holt and Salim Amin (one the EJN’s trustees), who are now experts providing reflection and experience through videos in our online training. Our partnership with EJN has been a great asset to our organisation, and we look forward to continuing to grow this relationship.
We are now thrilled to unveil our first online training programme: The Photographer’s Ethical Toolkit. This course is designed to be a first step in understanding photography ethics. It provides a broad overview of key ethical principles and applies to anyone who regularly takes or shares photographs.
Building Trust: How Can Media Demonstrate Their Commitment to Free and Independent Journalism?
Last week leaders of the Journalism Trust Initiative, a campaign to find practical ways to strengthen and to sustain the future of ethical journalism, are meeting in Paris.
The JTI, created by Reporters Without Borders, European Broadcasting Union, and Global Editors Network is supported by the Ethical Journalism Network (EJN) and major media across all platforms of European journalism.
In the first working meeting from 4-5 October, the EJN's President Aidan White led discussions on defining the framework that will identify news media that meet basic standards of professionalism.
The Ethical Journalism Network is looking for a new Director and CEO from 31 March 2019
As you will have seen from Chris Elliott's recent Director's Letter, Chris has been working with the EJN's President and Founder, Aidan White, for the last year to oversee a period of transition at the EJN as the organisation continues to grow and take on more projects and activities than ever before. This process is well underway and means that we are now looking to appoint a new Director and CEO from 31 March 2019.
We would be very grateful if you could share this with your contacts and network and encourage qualified candidates to apply.
ILO Labour Migration & Fair Recruitment Award 2018
The ILO invites professional journalists to submit until 31 October 2018 up to two pieces of their work (entries must have been created and published between June 1, 2016 and October 31, 2018 to qualify) in two different categories:
- Labour migration aspects; or - Fair recruitment of migrant workers.
Supporting quality journalism in the digital age:All across Europe publishers, editors and journalists are coming together to tell governments it is time to make the technology giants pay. Facebook and Google, should be obliged to support the journalism from which they profit but don't pay for. In this blog, EJN Director of Campaigns and Communications, Tom Law, reflects on initiatives in the Czech Republic, Ireland, the UK, and across Europe to support the sustainability of quality journalism.
Chris Elliott's Directors Letter: The EJN has gone from strength to strength with ten projects in place for 2018/19. Our biggest supporter is still the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (NMFA), which has done so much to support and build the EJN. At the heart of the 2018/19 NMFA programme are projects in China, Turkey and the Middle East.
Fake news is about to get so much more dangerous:Thomas Kent writes that the most powerful false-news weapon in history is around the corner. The media industry has only a short time to get ahead of it.
Scroll down for our summary of global media ethics news.
The Ethical Journalism Network’s Tom Law will take part in a panel discussion on humanitarian journalism at City, University of London on 15th October 2018.
This event is about the journalists who report on humanitarian crises today.
It launches a major new report from Martin Scott, Kate Wright and Mel Bunce, The State of Humanitarian Journalism, based on four years of research. This report shows which news outlets report on humanitarian issues, how they frame their stories, and what audiences think about this news.
5pm-6.30pm: ‘The state of humanitarian journalism’ new research report and panel discussion, Room A130 College building
Josephine Schmidt, Executive Editor at IRIN, the world’s oldest humanitarian newswire
James Copnall, Newsday presenter, BBC World Service
Tom Law, Director of Campaigns and Communications, The Ethical Journalism Network
Stefanie Glinski, Freelance journalist and photographer, currently based in Afghanistan.
6.30pm – 7pm: Refreshment break
7pm – 8.15pm: Screening of ‘Another News Story’ (52mins), Room B200: Introduced by director Orban Wallace & producer Verity Wislocki.
- This feminist fact-checking project wants to 'counterbalance the dominant male perspective' (Poynter)
- FT's Madison Marriage 'disappeared for a week' due to abuse after Presidents Club scoop but says paper 'grew up a bit' over backlash (Press Gazette)
- Why many sexual assault survivors may not come forward for years (Journalist's Resource)
- IPSO to discuss potential for new media guidelines on reporting of domestic violence deaths with feminist group (Press Gazette)
- Women’s voices are judged more harshly than men’s (Economist)
PLATFORMS & SOCIAL MEDIA
- Google Exposed User Data, Feared Repercussions of Disclosing to Public (WSJ)
- Google is building a search engine for fact checks (Poynter)
- More research suggests that Twitter’s fake news “strategy” is either ineffective or nonexistent (Nieman Lab)
MIGRATION & HATE SPEECH
- Hate speech breeds hate, says new research (Journalists Resource)
- Covering immigration: What reporters get wrong and how to get it right (Journalists Resource)
MEDIA GOVERNANCE
- Tracking the wave of anti-fake news initiatives (AXIOS)
PROTECTING SOURCES
- Khashoggi case shows importance of ethical reporting on hostages (CJR)
GLOBAL ETHICS NEWS
AFRICA
After Troubles in Myanmar, Facebook Charges Ahead in Africa (WIRED)
AMERICAS
BRAZIL: This Election Offered A Window Into WhatsApp's Wild, Sometimes Fact-Free World (BuzzFeed) US: Kavanaugh and the fallacy of cause and effect (CJR) US: Trump’s “Enemy of the People” Rhetoric Is Endangering Journalists’ Lives (Mother Jones) US: CNN's Brian Stelter Breaks Down the 'Questionable Editorial Decisions' in Kavanaugh Coverage (Mediate)
EUROPE
UK: Manchester Evening News marks 150th anniversary of publishing with 'honest aim to serve the public interest' (Press Gazette)
MIDDLE EAST
SAUDI ARABIA: 'New' Saudi Arabia ushers in even more repressive climate for journalists (CPJ) SAUDI ARABIA: Bloomberg's Arabic news network contract gives it strict controls (Guardian)
EJN ANNUAL REPORT 2017/2018
The Ethical Journalism Network Annual Report for 2017 and the first months of 2018 covers a period in which the buzzwords “fake news” and “post-truth” provided a misleading but appropriate focus for the news industry.
In recent months the challenges of a flawed information landscape have been dramatically exposed with Google, Facebook and other internet giants being called to account for their failure to promptly deal with the pollution of the information landscape.
The EJN's Trust in Ethical Journalism reports looks at how the communications revolution is continuing to pose more questions than answers over a public crisis of confidence, both in democracy and in sources of public information.
Can 2018 be the year when ethical journalism, a human instinct beyond encoding and algorithmic definition, finally gets the recognition it deserves?
