In 2001, we began engaging with other media bodies and non-governmental organisations in consultations around the theme Journalism and Media Ethics in a Democracy.

As a result the Journalism and Public Trust initiative has been launched. This is designed to strengthen the compact of trust that should exist between journalists and the public, and the role of the media in maintaining an open democratic society.

MediaWise articles and reports

• Responsible Journalism
  MediaWise contributes to BBC Radio 4 Analysis programme, 3 July 2008.
• The Quality and Independence of British Journalism
  Research conducted by Cardiff University and published by MediaWise, 1 February 2008.
• Journeys into Journalism
  Media talks with MediaWise on board the SS Robin.
• Social responsibility and the media
  Mike Jempson's address to the Parliamentary Group on Corporate Responsibility, Jan 2006.
• Untangling the world wide web
  Paper to Organization of News Ombudsmen on false stories on the internet, May 2005.
• Journalism and Public Trust Conference
  Organised by the NUJ Ethics Council and MediaWise, 4 December 2004.
• The price of public trust
  Mike Jempson wonders about impartiality when journalists make their personal views known.
• A compact of trust between journalism and the public?
  Mike Jempson argues for a new understanding between journalists & citizens, February 2004.
• Prejudice, distortion & the cult of celebrity: Is the press going to hell in a handcart? 
  Roy Greenslade examines the current state of the British press, January 2004.
• Journalism and Media Ethics in a Democracy 
  Details of the background consultations.
• A Centre for Media Affairs? 
  The PressWise view on the proposed Centre.
• A Centre for Media Affairs - Executive Summary
  Outlining the aims and activities envisaged for a Centre.

Articles and reports from the UK and Europe

• Citizen journalism
  Links to websites, plus articles about citizen journalism.
• Trust in UK newspapers has now fallen to just 19%
  Roy Greenslade reflects on the 2009 Edelman Trust Barometer, 27 January 2009.
• What's Happening to Our News
  New report from Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, 21 January 2009.
• Survey of public attitudes towards conduct in public life 2008
  Includes section on the media, Committee on Standards in Public Life report, November 2008.
• When politicians meet the press
  Red Smith Lecture by Tim Russert, 14 April 2008.
• Stop the slander
  Article by Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, published on Guardian website, 19 March 2008.
• The media - a case of growth in scale, alas, not in stature
  Alastair Campbell's Hugh Cudlipp Lecture, 28 January 2008.
• Never mind the scandals: what's it all for?
  Jeremy Paxman, James MacTaggart Memorial Lecture, 24 August 2007.
• Our Nation's Future - Public Life
  Lecture by Tony Blair on the relationship between politics and the media, 12 June 2007.
• Simpson takes aim at journalism's 'moral vacuum'
  MediaGuardian report on speech by John Simpson, 14 June 2006.
• The Media: Public interest and common good
  Lecture by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, Lambeth Palace, 15 June 2005.
• View from the south
  Urvashi Butalia looks at some journalistic 'stings', from New Internationalist, June 2005.
• Is British journalism getting better or worse?
  Speech by Stewart Purvis, City University Insights Lecture, 16 March 2005.
• What are newspapers for?
  By Alan Rusbridger, Hugo Young Lecture, Sheffield University, 9 March 2005.
• Regulating Journalists 
  By Chris Wheal, Chair, NUJ Professional Training Committee, January 2005.
• What the media are doing to our politics
  Notes from an event about John Lloyd's book, held at Demos, 18 January 2005.
• The path back to trust, truth and integrity
  By Richard Lambert, former editor of the FT, published in MediaGuardian, 17 January 2005.
• Do they mean us?
  What the people who run Britain think of journalists, MediaGuardian, 10 January 2005.
• Journalism's key battle is with its own integrity
  Article by Joyce McMillan from The Scotsman, 14 August 2004.
• Charter on media transparency
  Five principles developed by the International Public Relations Association, 27 July 2004.
• Our lies led us to war
  George Monbiot calls on the media to be held to account, The Guardian, 20 July 2004.
• Greasing up to power
  Most of our journalists fail us, argues George Monbiot, The Guardian, 13 July 2004.
• The fourth estate's coup d'état
  John Lloyd reports on the media damaging democracy, The Observer, 13 June 2004.
• Journalists' self-righteous arrogance has gone too far
  Article by Martin Kettle that appeared in The Guardian, 18 May 2004.
• The threat to the media is real. It comes from within
  Martin Kettle examines the reaction to the Hutton Report, The Guardian, 3 February 2004.
• Media Accountability Systems (MAS)
  List of non-governmental means of inducing journalists to observe ethical rules by Claude-Jean Bertrand of Independent Press Councils, September 2003.
• Organising media accountability - experiences in Europe
  Edited by Urte Sonnenberg, published by European Journalism Centre, 1997.

Articles and reports from America

• Rebuliding Trust: What Newsrooms Are Doing
  By Mallary Jean Tenore, Naughton Fellow at the Poynter Institute, 10 February 2008.
• The public bias against the press
  Poynter Vice President Roy P Clark discusses research on attitudes to media, 30 January 2008.
• Americans slam news media on believability
  Research conducted by Sacred Heart University in Connecticut, 8 January 2008.
• Fake TV News: Widespread and Undisclosed
  Report on newsroom use of material from PR firms, Center for Media & Democracy, Apr 2006.
• Confronting the culture
  By Lori Robertson, managing editor of American Journalism Review, Aug/Sept 2005.
• Journalists: More ethical than people realize?
  By Kelly McBride of the Poynter Institute, 17 December 2004.
• The Media and the Election: A Postmortem
  Howard Dean discusses the importance of ethical media for democracy, 16 November 2004.
• The Wolf in Reporter's Clothing: The Rise of Pseudo-Journalism in America
  Lecture by John S Carroll, former editor, Los Angeles Times, 6 May 2004.
• Time for journalists to hold their own accountable
  Kelly McBride of the Poynter Institute argues for greater scrutiny of journalism, April 2004.
• Bottom-line pressures now hurting coverage, say journalists
  Survey of 547 US journalists, conducted by the Pew Research Center, 2004.