Transparency standards with the aim of building a trusted press

In this age of overinformation, sensationalism and countless fake news stories, it comes as no surprise that media trust is at a record low. This global phenomenon is particularly prevalent in Greece – a recent study across European Union member-states found that 90 percent of Greek respondents expressed suspicion or distrust when it comes to the country’s information ecosystem. Media trust is an integral part of a healthy democracy, and one of the most useful tools in order to regain it is transparency. Today, information, by itself, is not enough – readers need to know who is behind it and how it came about.

In these troubling times for the press, The New York Times has been a beacon of hope and leadership in terms of quality reporting and a transparent relationship with its readers. The goal of The New York Times, in the words of its patriarch Adolph Ochs, remains unchanged: “to cover the news as impartially as possible – without fear or favor – and to treat readers, news sources, advertisers and others fairly and openly.” In the spirit of openness, the NYT has published a series of professional guideline documents that shed light on the newspaper’s practices, and has consistently and responsibly flagged its content as “news”, “analysis” or “opinion” in order to distinguish objective truth from subjective interpretation.

Inspired by The New York Times’s responsiveness to the media’s credibility crisis, Kathimerini is the first news organization in Greece to proudly join The Trust Project, a global consortium of news organizations coming together to create standards of transparency in journalism, with the aim of building a trusted and reliable press.

Kathimerini’s new family includes esteemed media outlets, as well as a number of technology companies that have revolutionized the way information is transmitted – among them Facebook, Google and Twitter. There is a simple philosophy behind The Trust Project’s mission that echoes the example set by The New York Times: to pull back the curtains and unveil the practices behind journalism.

At the heart of The Trust Project’s initiative lie its “trust indicators,” a detailed evaluation of the quality and credibility of each article, carried out by a global team of top executives in journalism and technology. The indicators evaluate journalistic work using a number of criteria, such as the outlet’s best practices, the author’s expertise, the sourcing behind each claim and the often overlooked distinction between information, analysis and opinion. By joining the Trust Project network, Kathimerini will incorporate the indicators into its websites, and automatically report them to search engines and technology platforms, in the interests of full transparency and the promotion of quality journalism.

“Kathimerini’s participation in The Trust Project, with the integration of its websites kathimerini.gr and ekathimerini.com, and its worldwide recognition as a respected and reliable news source, are just as important as the trust our readers demonstrate every day,” says Alexis Papachelas, executive editor of the newspaper. “It is the result of the hard daily work of our journalists, and their commitment to important and accurate information.”

Inasmuch as the digital revolution has created a number of credibility challenges for journalism, it has also unveiled new horizons for its betterment. It enables quality news organizations to network, to discuss, collaborate and improve their practices, and, above all, to build a new relationship with their readers, based on an unprecedented level of sincerity and extroversion.

Through its participation in The Trust Project, Kathimerini proudly finds itself fully aligned with the vision of The New York Times: The journalist of today needs to treat his or her readers with fairness and, most importantly, openness.