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Essential Standards

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Essential standards for news reporting

Information integrity is achievable only with an independent, free and pluralistic media… providing reliable and accurate information and mitigating risks to information spaces… Where editorial standards are not robustly upheld, media outlets can drive and amplify risks to information integrity, which can cross-pollinate between online and offline spaces. – United Nations Global Principles For Information Integrity.

Information integrity includes distinguishing and sustaining accurate reports about current events of public interest. But by what minimum practices, if any, can this work of reliable reporting be identified and assessed? Scholars from five countries are collaborating on an interdisciplinary project to propose and test a concise list of essential standards of practice for news reporting. The project is led by Ivor Shapiro, a Research Fellow in journalism at Stellenbosch University, and supported by CINIA in partnership with the Centre d’études sur les médias at Université Laval in Québec, Canada.

The project is proceeding in three phases as follows.

1. Theoretical development: the study began in mid-2024 with thematic analysis of professional guidelines, recent discourse, and previous studies. The goal is to propose a short list of clear and concise statements to be tested as potentially foundational standards of practice for journalistic news reporting. The investigators for this phase are Simon Thibault (Université de Montréal), Ivor Shapiro and Meli Ncube (Stellenbosch University), Philippa Spoel (Laurentian University), and Lauren Dwyer (Mount Royal University). Our scientific advisor is Virginie Hébert (Université du Québec à Rimouski / Institut nationale de la recherche scientifique).

2. Dialogue: informal discussions, conference presentations, and a by-invitation colloquium in Toronto on June 5-6, 2025 have engaged researchers and news-media stakeholders in reflection on our proposals and contextualizing issues surrounding professional accountability for news coverage. Programmed speakers included: Bruce Mutsvairo, PhD, Utrecht University; Christian Leblanc, media lawyer, Fasken (Montreal); Craig Silverman, indicator.media; Éric-Pierre Champagne, Fédération professionnelle des journalistes du Québec; Herman Wasserman, PhD, Centre for Information Integrity in Africa, Stellenbosch University; Colette Brin, Université Laval; Holly Doan, publisher, Blacklock’s Reporter; Howard Law, mediapolicy.ca; James L. Turk, PhD, Centre for Free Expression: Toronto Metropolitan University; Jordan Timm, The Logic; Justice Paul B. Schabas, Ontario Superior Court; Karyn Pugliese, APTN News; Laurence Dierickx, PhD, University of Bergen/Université Libre de Bruxelles; Lela Savić, La Converse; Nadia Haq, PhD, Cardiff University; Philippe Marcoux, Québec Press Council; Pierre Sormany, author: Le métier du journaliste; Ruona Meyer, Journalist and independent researcher; Sandra E. Martin, The Globe and Mail; Shree Paradkar, The Toronto Star; Adrian Ma, Toronto Metropolitan University; Ahmed Al-Rawi, PhD, Simon Fraser University; Meli Ncube, Stellenbosch Unuversity; Angela Misri, Toronto Metropolitan University; Benjamin Tetteh, PhD, New York University; Brent Jolly, Canadiuan Association of Journalists and National NewsMedia Council of Canada (NNC); Bruce MacCormack, Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA); Nelanthi Hewa, PhD, University of Pennsylvania; Nicole Blanchett, PhD, Toronto Metropolitan University; and Ivor Shapiro, Stellenbosch University.

3. Surveys: Starting in 2026, surveys in five countries measure the extent to which self-identified journalists recognize potentially ¨essential¨ standards of news reporting practice. The investigators in this phase are:

    • South Africa: Marenet Jordaan (Stellenbosch University);
    • Brazil: Laura Storch (Federal University of Santa Maria);
    • Canada: Lisa Taylor (King’s College University) and Colette Brin (Université Laval);
    • The Netherlands: Bruce Mutsvairo (Utrecht University), Ansgard Heinrich (University of Groningen), and Jessy de Cooker and Danielle Arets (Fontys University of Applied Science); 
    • United Kingdom, Ato Erzan-Essien (University of Lancashire). 
TAKE THE SURVEY
Calling South African Journalists: Share Your Voice on Standards for News Reporting
Stellenbosch University’s Department of Journalism is inviting South African journalists to take part in a short survey exploring what standards of practice reporters agree on when it comes to gathering and sharing the news.
The anonymous survey takes just 5–10 minutes and could help could make it easier for people to distinguish journalists’ work from more questionable news sources.
Take the survey: https://forms.office.com/r/C06fhikadr
Researcher: Dr Meli M Ncube, Department of Journalism, Stellenbosch University
mncube@sun.ac.za | 060 936 1117
Participation is voluntary and responses are completely anonymous. Approved by the SU Humanities Research Ethics Committee (Project #34879).
Why it matters now: A new global evidence review from UNESCO, produced with the International Fund for Public Interest Media and DW Akademie, makes the case that a free and independent media has a profound and positive impact on societies worldwide. Titled The Value of Journalism, the report draws on data showing that independent journalism contributes to economic growth, national security, and stronger resilience against disinformation and crises. Among its findings, research across 97 countries links declining press freedom to a 1–2% drop in real GDP growth, a hit that takes years to recover from, while every dollar invested in journalism was found to generate more than $100 in public benefit. This backdrop makes surveys like Dr Ncube’s especially timely – strengthening shared professional standards is one way journalism can shore up the public trust the report shows is economically and socially valuable.