Martin Moore: Press could learn from 'new digital publishers'

Mainstream media should learn lessons on standards on openness and transparency from digital publishers including key industry bloggers, tweeters and citizen journalists, director of the Media Standards Trust Martin Moore said today.

Speaking at the Westminster Media Forum, Moore said there is "a lot of cleaning up to do" in areas of the press and that "UK journalism needs to see various structural crises as an opportunity to rebuild itself from the ground up".

And lessons can be learned from "new digital publishers" he added, covering three key areas: "who, what and where".

"Don't assume people know who you are. People come from digital content from everywhere and anywhere ... you have to be clear about who you are and what you do.

"Most nationals do not even link to the Editors' Code of Practice let alone publish on websites.

"Where does the news come from? Show me, link to your sources. You can do a lot worse than look at certain bloggers, who link to sources wherever they can.

"But for some reason most of own mainstream media seems averse to linking out."

He also cited other positive examples of transparency standards, such as the ability to "report the error" at the end of every article on the PBS Mediashift website.

Former commissioner of the PCC Eve Salomon joined Moore on a panel discussing public confidence. She said "future regulation is going to involve far greater transparency than ever before".

She added that she would "like to see newspapers put together and publish their own editorial codes. Guidelines which govern everything from payment of sources to verification requirements, to the use of press releases."

She also called for each newspaper to publish an annual report and for a new regulator to have the "power to sanction if procedural guidelines are not met, regardless of whether the story is published".

"Self-regulation must make even greater effort to show it operates in the public interest and not merely in interest of funds".

On a later panel former editor of the Independent Simon Kelner, who is now chief executive of the Journalism Foundation, also spoke about the important role of non-mainstream media.

"The idea that journalism is merely a province for seasoned professionals is so outdated," he said.

"There is a huge amount of work happening underneath the surface and beyond the public glare which gives me great hope for the future of journalism."

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