NEWSPAPER

CREDIBILITY

CREDIBILITY
The bond of trust between journalists and the
communities they serve has grown, as the world of
news and information changed over the years.
One of the most important ways journalists and news
organizations earn public trust is by being transparent
about who we are and the work we do.

CREDIBILITY
Attribute information to the source to show

provenance
Bylines and credits provide a sense of ownership

and accountability
Offer opportunities respond to what they read, hear

and see
Invite public to report errors and request corrections
Publicly admit our errors

TRANSPARENCY &
CREDIBILITY
Practices related to transparency and credibility are
evolving in five key areas:
Show the reporting and sourcesthat support your

work
Collaborate with the audience
Aggregate and attribute informationresponsibly
Offer disclosuresand statements of values
Correct website and social media errorseffectively

WHAT IS TRANSPARENCY?
implies openness, communication, and accountability.
one of the most-discussed aspects of practicing

ethical journalism
emerged as an ideal that newsrooms and individual

journalists strive for.

If journalists are truth seekers, it must follow that they
be honest and truthful with their audiences, too.

VIRTUES OF TRANSPARENCY
signals the journalists respect for the audience
helps establish that the journalist has a public

interest motive, the key to credibility

Every newsroom, and every single story must show why
they deserve more trust than dozens or even hundreds
of others on the same topic.

Transparency adds value to the work we do, but its

also a fundamental part of howwe do our work.
- The Elements of Journalism

ST

KEY AREA

Show the reporting and sources that support

your work
I. Share source material
Hyperlink way to offer proof of a source
A simple rule for linking: if a claim or fact was
gathered and verified online, it should be supported by
a link.
include in the story all interviews, documentation,

II. Show changes to content

Update stories to incorporate new information, and
these additions should be disclosed.

How to handle updates

1. Add a note at the top or bottom of the piece of
content that begins, Update: This article was updated
to
places all of the updated information within the

context of the content itself

2. Add an update note at the top or bottom of the
piece that details all of the new information, thus
leaving the original content intact.
- places all of the new information within the update
note itself, preserving the rest of the content as it was
originally published.

 In both cases, add the date (and time) of the update

Both options note clearly that content has changed

from when it was first published.

Its essential to note when and how content is changing
because it continues to exist in the same place, and
because people may be linking to it.

Core principles in updating

1. Be clear about the nature of the update
2. Note when and why was it added
3. Think about readability
4. Have a review process
5. Updates are not corrections

ND

KEY AREA

Engage in transparent collaboration with the audience

find productive, mutually beneficial and meaningful ways to

include your community in the reporting and publishing

process.
willing to share elements of what youre working on

beforeyoure ready to publish

Journalists should think carefully about the details you

share if:
It could turn out to be false.
It could put sources or other people in harms way.
It could compromise peoples privacy.
It will undo your work by tipping off people or entities to

whats coming.

RD

KEY AREA

Practice attribution
One of the oldest and most hallowed forms of
transparency in journalism is attribution.
You link what was said to the person who said it.
You cite your sources.
You provide a roadmap that leads back to all the

people you spoke to, the documents you read, the

other articles and research that helped form your

The starting point for ethical aggregation is to

practice attribution.
When in doubt, make it very clear where we get our

information.
We have to immediately identify the source of any

facts in our stories and why we consider them

credible.
Every reader should know where we got our

information.

When aggregating a piece of work:

dont extract all of the value of the original piece, or

quote so much of it
If you extract all key passages and information and

simply rewrite them, then there is no reason for a

reader to follow on to the original source
and if they do, they may question your ethics.

Four ways to add value to a story:

1. Summarize
2. Organize
3. Original Reporting
4. Context

Secure permissions
Sometimes neglected or overlooked by journalists
User-generated content is not free
Reach out and secure permission to use others

content before you embed or republish.

Permissions come down to three issues:

Upholding the ethic of attributing the information and

being transparent about where it came from

Dealing with members of the community in a

respectful way
Journalists need to be mindful of how they may expose

themselves and their organization to future legal action

TH

KEY AREA

Offer disclosures and statements of values

5 situations when a disclosure needs to be added to a
piece of content:
1. Personal connections to sources, organizations or

events mentioned in reporting

2. Organizational links to sources, organizations or

events mentioned in reporting

3. Limitations of any data or material used. (Meaning:

Heres what we dont know, or some mitigating factors.)
4. When unusual methods are used to gather information
5. When there is an unusual arrangement with sources
(such as enabling them to remain anonymous or use a
pseudonym).

Disclosures within content

typically placed within the context of the content

itself, or at the bottom of the page.

insert it right after the first mention of the source

Anonymity
Its best practice to also offer an explanation why

someone is being granted anonymity and to explain

as much about them as possible.
Reporters and editors should in all cases discuss why

the source wants anonymity, and consider seriously

whether we can say something informative or
interesting.

Connection to someone mentioned in a story

For issues that relate to a reporter or outlets connection to
someone or something mentioned in the story, the standard
practice is to note it in a disclosure.
Example:
Disclosure: My wife recently began working on a freelance basis
for Quartzs sister publication The Atlantic as a researcher.
The disclosure should be placed as close to the relevant
passage as possible.

Disclosures about the editing process

A reporters name, email, phone number and even
Twitter handle are now common information that
accompanies their content.
But some news organizations are now also disclosing
the names and contact information of editors.

TH

KEY AREA

Correct website and social media errors

Corrections are a good thing; errors are unfortunate and bad
Prevent errors before they make their way into the world
News organizations should track the error rates of individual

reporters
Offer training and discipline to help ensure overall quality

 Rather than destroying trust, corrections are a powerful tool

to reinforce how accountable and transparent journalists are.

If journalists are willing to admit theyre wrong, people will

trust them more

Thats the paradox of trust: admitting our mistakes and

failings make us more deserving of trust.

Corrections Fundamentals
1. Feel and write like a human
2. Be clear about what was incorrect, and the correct

information
3. Due prominence
4. Help the truth spread

Positive corrections culture

1. Model behavior from the top
2. Encourage people to report their mistakes, and to

respond to requests
3. Make it easy to do corrections
4. Offer praise and examples

Corrections policy
A basic roadmap of why and how to do corrections. It
need not be a long, wordy document. The more clear,
concise and digestible, the better.

Five key elements

1. Communicate the value of corrections.
2. Set your style; offer examples
3. Designate an internal lead
4. Design a workflow
5. Determine if any tools are needed

SOCIAL MEDIA CORRECTIONS

Twitter
- send it as a reply to your original, mistaken tweet
- retweet
As a general rule, you want to avoid having to delete a
tweet.

SOCIAL MEDIA CORRECTIONS

Facebook
edit a post after its been published
add a comment on the post
hide a post from your wall

SOCIAL MEDIA CORRECTIONS

Instagram
- by adding it in a comment

Remember, the more personal and human you can be in

offering a correction, the more sincere and effective it will
be. Your social media profile is an extension of you.