TAO
A new transparency and accountability seal is being developed by Washington News Council, a non-profit forum.

The seal, which was announced earlier this year by WNC president John Hamer, can be voluntarily displayed by journalists on their website and represents a commitment to Transparency, Accountability and Openness (TAO).

It is not exclusive to online journalism, however. WNC hopes that the seal could be used for television and print as well.

A TAO 'pledge' has been published by Hamer on the WA News Council Blog, although he states that the guidelines in the pledge will not be overseen or enforced by any outside organisation. Instead it will be "overseen by everyone on the internet who wants to see high standards of transparency, accountability and openness in journalism".

The initiative is aimed at anyone practising "any form of journalism in the broadest sense of the word," he says.

"We initially saw it as a tool for larger media organisations, but we have decided that anyone could use it if they want - individual bloggers, hyperlocal, neighbourhood websites, and even activist groups that are putting out news and information. Many of them are already more TAO than the mainstream media, as you know" Hamer told Journalism.co.uk.

The seal is now being redesigned, he said. "We're shooting for a launch in April, but that depends on how fast we manage to work out some of the logistics."

One of the tasks is to find out if such a pledge is necessary: "Lots of average citizens seem to want a 'seal of approval' so they know what media sources they can trust.

"A commitment to Transparency, Accountability and Openness could help increase public trust. We're not asking journalists to commit to any particular ethics code, but just to be transparent about their standards and values. We'd urge them to list whatever codes they abide by, of course.

"I personally think a TAO Seal could become a valuable promotional tool for journalists. If they 'take the pledge,' they could publicise that and perhaps draw more people to their sites. It would differentiate them from other sites and add some value and credibility. It's no panacea, but it could help."

The WNC website and blog page are also being redesigned and the organisation hopes to relaunch them soon.

Hamer also flagged up other similar projects, Insightapp.com, for example, a new web tool in beta that allows users to interact with web page text in various different ways.

The Media Standards trust, based in the UK, is also developing new transparency initiatives with its Value Added News and hNews project. Its director Martin Moore discussed what a universal set of journalistic principles might look like at this link.

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