The Pilot Project aims at supporting the implementation of the ‘Journalism Trust Initiative’ (JTI) in Europe.
- Coordinator: Association Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
- Starting date: 1 July 2020
- Duration: 12 months
- Maximum amount of the grant: EUR 422 179
- Website: forthcoming
Objectives
After the successful development of the JTI set of criteria as a Workshop Agreement under the aegis of the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) last year, a number of activities are planned to facilitate and promote its usage in Member States. These include the design, testing and launch of a self-assessment tool for media outlets online. As a novelty and added value compared to other initiatives, voluntary third-party audits of these self-assessments according to the JTI will be included in this pilot phase too.
In parallel, the infrastructure of certification and the licensing of certifiers, called accreditation, will be implemented and stimulated in accordance with existing EU Directives and taking into account the self-regulatory nature of professional norms. The relevant stakeholders, including distributors, digital platforms and advertisers, are expected to contribute to the implementation of JTI by giving due prominence to JTI-compliant media outlets. This reward-driven logic to incentivize ethical journalism will be supported with targeted training, outreach and advocacy actions.
This project was selected further to a Call for proposals for Pilot Projects and Preparatory Actions (Action 3).