Both professional and co-creational models of news media should be accountable through external regulation or – at the very least – robust internal complaints-handling procedures.
Where co-creational news media is different is in its commitment to mutual learning for journalists and participants. Regulation or complaints-handling is not just a box-ticking exercise, but an opportunity to reflect together on what went wrong and how things might be done differently next time.
Tips
- Membership of a press council or independent regulator can give the public confidence in your output and help protect a co-creational organisation from legal risks.
- Consider sharing output with participants before publication or broadcast, so that they have an opportunity to review how they are represented - but please note that a co-creational approach does not mean that you have to share all content with all subjects. If you are writing a story about a public figure, for example, you do not have to share content with them before publication, unless it contains potentially defamatory allegations, in which case you should take legal advice.
- Avoid becoming complacent about your approach to fact-checking. Are you doing enough to test and develop your own knowledge and understanding?
Example
- IMPRESS, the UK’s independent press regulator, sets standards on accuracy and other ethical issues for a range of news media organisations, including some which take a co-creational approach.
