ACCREDITATION PROGRAM FOR JOURNALISM TRUST INITIATIVE (JTI) – CERTIFICATION PROGRAM

ANAB ACCEPTING PILOT ACCREDITATION PROGRAM APPLICATIONS FROM AUGUST 15 – OCTOBER 15, 2021

The ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB), a wholly owned subsidiary of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), has launched a new pilot accreditation program for the Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI) – Certification Program.

In the digital age, it has become increasingly difficult to distinguish information shaped by vested interests from that produced by independent and reliable news media outlets. An open and honest public debate, aimed at informing the general public, has become more difficult to sustain, and signals of trustworthiness in the information space are in great demand.

The JTI aims to support journalism by recognizing compliance with ethical norms and professional best practices. JTI’s certification program focuses on trustworthy information as an output of transparent and sound editorial processes by assessing ethical journalism as a service and therefore the object of service certification. It is intended to help users (e.g., service customers) to differentiate between media outlets (e.g., service providers) in making informed decisions. The goal is to inform the distribution and consumption of journalistic content so that a more healthy media landscape can emerge, benefiting citizens and societies at large.

ANAB’s accreditation program will assess the competence of conformity assessment bodies which audit and certify against the JTI scheme and CEN Workshop Agreement 17493:2019 for journalistic content distributed by media outlets. ANAB’s program operates in accordance with ISO/IEC 17011, Conformity assessment — Requirements for accreditation bodies accrediting conformity assessment bodies, and assesses conformity assessment bodies against ISO/IEC 17065, General requirements for bodies operating product certification systems.

The CEN Workshop Agreement 17493:2019 covers:

• Identity and transparency (e.g., basic requirements on media’s identity, editorial mission, public service media, requirements on owners’ identity, disclosure of identity of the management team and its location, disclosure of editorial contact details)
• Professionalism and accountability (e.g., accountability for journalism principles, accuracy, responsibility for content provided by the general public, responsibility for sources, professionalism for affiliations, internal accountability)

“Having a workshop agreement that covers standard requirements related to identity, transparency, accountability and professionalism – as well as independence and ethics – will guide the media outlet services in their work,” said R. Douglas Leonard, ANAB vice president responsible for these programs. “ANAB accreditation is committed to a covenant of trust in the adherence to these criteria.”

ANAB will accept applications for the pilot accreditation program from August 15 – October 15, 2021. To learn more about the requirements and begin the application process, visit the ANAB website.

About ANAB
The ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB), a wholly owned subsidiary of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), is the largest multi-disciplinary ISO/IEC 17011 accreditation body in North America, with comprehensive signatory status across the multilateral recognition arrangements of the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC). The ANAB accreditation portfolio includes management systems certification bodies, calibration and testing labs, product certification bodies, personnel credentialing organizations, forensic test and calibration service providers, inspection bodies, police crime units, greenhouse gas validation and verification bodies, reference material producers, and proficiency test providers. For more information, visit www.anab.org.

About ANSI
The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is a private non-profit organization whose mission is to enhance both the global competitiveness of U.S. business and the U.S. quality of life by promoting and facilitating voluntary consensus standards and conformity assessment systems, and safeguarding their integrity. Its membership is comprised of businesses, professional societies and trade associations, standards developers, government agencies, and consumer and labor organizations.

The Institute represents and serves the diverse interests of more than 270,000 companies and organizations and 30 million professionals worldwide. ANSI is the official U.S. representative to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and, via the U.S. National Committee, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). For more information, visit www.ansi.org.

About JTI
The Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI) is developing and implementing indicators for the trustworthiness of news media and thus, promotes and rewards compliance with professional norms and ethics. It aims at distinguishing journalism worthy of the name through a mechanism that includes three steps: self-evaluation, conformity assessment and incentivization (algorithmic indexation, advertising, philanthropy, etc.). The JTI was originally launched and is operated by the Paris-based NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF), whose mandate is to promote freedom, independence, and pluralism of journalism. For more information, visit www.journalismtrustinitiative.org.