Independent press regulator Impress has announced plans to launch an ethical journalism training programme in a bid to boost responsible reporting in the UK.
The announcement came with the release of their 2023-24 annual report, confirming a knowledge transfer partnership with the University of Huddersfield which saw Dr Beth Parkes join the Impress staff to oversee the creation of the programme.
“With public trust in news media at an all-time low, alongside increasing levels of disinformation, responsible and ethical journalism is needed more than ever before,” Parkes said.
“This course seeks to encourage greater ethical practice and awareness in the industry.”
Impress says details will be released in coming months. The course will be available to all journalists and journalism students, as well as the public at large who have shown strong interest both in consuming more ethical news, as well as from a citizen journalist perspective.
“Working with Impress has given us a great opportunity to talk to stakeholders about what journalism ethics means for them,” Dr Ruth Stoker, University of Huddersfield, added.
“Impress members are highly sensitive to the communities they work with and they flagged that training in journalism ethics was difficult to find. I am looking forward to helping Impress develop their training offer to meet the need of the sector over the coming year.”
It is not just current and future journalists Impress wants to utilise their programme for. In August of this year, Bridget Phillipson MP, the Secretary of State for Education announced a review into the curriculum to ensure young people are equipped with the necessary skills to think critically about what they see online.
Impress says it has been in touch with Phillipson’s office regarding implementation of news literacy lessons in the UK curriculum.
“Impress has consistently supported and encourage increased news literacy among the British public, be that through our News Literacy Report of 2022 or drawing attention to disinformation in the run up to the 2024 general election,” Impress Chief Executive Lexie Kirkconnell-Kawana said.
“The public believes it is for press regulators like Impress to tackle problems such as mis- and disinformation and they consider that understanding more about press standards would improve their trust in media overall.
“The first step in addressing something like this is always to first admit that there is a problem. It is admirable that the Government have done that, and it is important that this initiative does not slow or lose momentum.”
Impress says the #KnowTheNews campaign addressed a number of issues that have caused the public’s trust and understanding of news to dwindle and sought to empower citizens to be more critical when it came to news intake.
This included guidance on identifying fake news, breaking out of echo chambers and how regulators handle complaints. The campaign was viewed more than 1.2 million times across social media, showing a real appetite among the public for news literacy resources, added Impress.
Ahead of the 2024 UK General Election, Impress says it also created a host of blogs and videos addressing misinformation on issues such as immigration, the NHS and the economy, in order to help the public separate fact from opinion and encourage them to check sources when reading the news.
Impress says other key facts from the annual report include:
- A 10% increase in applications to be regulated by Impress
- 24 new publications joined Impress regulatory scheme
- Twice as many complaints as previous year, showing an increase in awareness of regulatory processes
- A 54% increase in Standards Code inquiries from member publications
- Three complaints were accepted and investigated
It has been a year of growth and planning for Impress, added the organisation. While enthusiasm for its independent regulation continues to rise, it says it is excited to take action and help address the trust crisis in news.
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