ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB) Accredits Alliance for Audited Media (AAM) to Certify in Accordance with Journalism Trust Initiative – Certification Programme

The ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB), a wholly owned subsidiary of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), has accredited the not-for-profit media auditor Alliance for Audited Media (AAM) to conduct independent audits to determine media outlets’ compliance with the Journalism Trust Initiative’s (JTI) standard for ethics and trustworthiness in journalism. With the accreditation, AAM becomes the first U.S. certifier of the JTI standard in accordance with ISO/IEC 17065, Conformity assessment—Requirements for bodies certifying products, processes, and services, under JTI’s certification programme scheme requirements. AAM’s achievement of this accreditation will support greater trustworthiness in an era where it has become increasingly difficult to distinguish information shaped by vested interests from facts produced by independent and impartial news professionals.

AAM provides independent audits across media platforms including web, mobile, and print, and has ben accredited to conduct certification audits for the following program scopes:

• Identity and Transparency, which includes 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, and disclosure of editorial contact details.
• Professionalism and Accountability, which includes accountability for journalism principles, accuracy, responsibility for content provided by the general public, responsibility for sources, professionalism for affiliations, and internal accountability.

The Journalism Trust Initiative’s certification programme 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. The program is intended to help users (e.g., service customers) to differentiate trustworthiness between media outlets (e.g., service providers) to make informed decisions.

 ANAB’s accreditation program operates in accordance with the International Standard, ISO/IEC 17065, and the JTI’s certification programme, which incorporates the following CEN Workshop agreement: CEN – CWA 17493:2019, Journalism Trust Initiative for journalistic content distributed by media outlets. 

“ANAB is committed to supporting trustworthy news through accreditation,” said R. Douglas Leonard, ANAB vice president for product, inspection, laboratory, and related activities. “With misinformation on the rise and trust in institutions and the media declining, there is an urgent need to help elevate transparent, reliable, and trustworthy information. The JTI conformity assessment scheme covers requirements related to identity, transparency, accountability, professionalism, independence, and ethics. ANAB’s third-party verification of conformity to all of these requirements will raise the accountability and reliability of media professionals and outlet services in their work.”

“The accreditation of AAM opens up the market for certification in the United States and is a historic step for the Journalism Trust Initiative,” said Christophe Deloire, secretary general of Reporters Without Borders. “The JTI team is available to guide media professionals into the app and RSF will make available grants for news outlets based on their available resources. I would like to thank our donors, especially Craig Newmark Philanthropies, which have supported the development of the JTI over the years.” 

“We are proud to achieve accreditation from ANAB and to become the first U.S. certifier for the Journalism Trust Initiative,” said Tom Drouillard, AAM CEO, president and managing director. “JTI’s goal of elevating transparency in journalism aligns with AAM’s mission to strengthen trust in media through third-party verification.”

To learn more about the requirements and begin the application process, contact Nikki Jackson (njackson@anab.org; 202-331-3623).

 To learn more about the Journalism Trust Initiative, contact jti@rsf.org.

 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.