RSF to launch an emergency protocol for Ukraine’s media

Photo by RSF

The Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI), an international journalism standard initiated by Paris-based non-profit Reporters Without Borders (RSF), announced today the launch of a JTI emergency protocol powered by NewsGuard, reports RSF.

This effort, which launches first in Ukraine, will help advertisers and others support quality journalism.

"As part of JTI’s crisis response mechanism, NewsGuard will engage with newsrooms to help them complete their JTI transparency reports, a first step toward their certification," RSF note.

NewsGuard will also rate their news websites according to its own methodology, based on nine apolitical criteria of journalistic practice. This will help these newsrooms establish their credibility and transparency to advertisers, digital platforms, funders and tech companies, opening up new possibilities of financing for struggling media. 

"The JTI emergency protocol, which will eventually be offered in multiple crisis regions, will first be deployed in Ukraine, where the media have suffered immensely since the start of the Russian invasion, including from the collapse of the advertising market," the organization adds.

Leading Ukrainian journalism outlets such as Hromadske, Lb.UA, Novynarnia, Hmarochos, Svoi City and Your City TV have agreed to be part of the initial round of twenty-five beneficiaries of the program, funded by the EU delegation in Ukraine. 

NewsGuard products include NewsGuard ratings, NewsGuard for Advertisers, which helps marketers concerned about their brand safety, and the Misinformation Fingerprints catalog of top false narratives online. In February 2023, the company launched NewsGuard for AI, which provides the leading tools to train generative AI models to avoid spreading misinformation. In 2022, NewsGuard for Advertising began to include ratings of television news and information programs and networks using criteria similar to those used to score websites but adapted for the video medium. In May 2023, NewsGuard announced that it is also rating news and information podcasts, working with three of the largest audio platforms, which will help advertisers gain confidence in supporting highly rated podcasts. NewsGuard’s ratings are conducted by trained journalists using apolitical criteria of journalistic practice.