Essential standards for news reporting

It is often suggested that greater accountability could strengthen public confidence in and support for journalism. But what standards of practice, if any, could serve as common benchmarks for assessing the quality of news work? collaborating on an interdisciplinary project to propose, evaluate, and test a concise set of clearly articulated core standards for news-reporting practice. This work is led by CINIA Research Fellow Ivor Shapiro 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 as potentially foundational standards of practice for journalistic news reporting. The investigators for this phase are Simon Thibault (Université de Montréal), Ivor Shapiro (Toronto Metropolitan University), Meli Ncube (Stellenbosch University) Philippa Spoel (Laurentian University), and Lauren Dwyer (Mount Royal University). Our scientific advisor is Virginie Hébert (UQAR-INRS).

2. Dialogue: informal discussions, conference presentations, and a by-invitation colloquium in Toronto on June 5-6, 2025 engaged researchers and news-media stakeholders in reflection on our proposals and contextualizing issues surrounding professional accountability for news coverage. For more information on the colloquium and its partners, click here.

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

South Africa: Maranet 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, Imke Henkel (Leeds University).