ONA to Launch Crowdsourcing for DIY Ethics Codes at International Journalism Festival


PERUGIA, ITALY--(Marketwired - Mar 28, 2014) - The Online News Association, the world's largest association of digital journalists, will open up crowdsourcing to the journalism community for its Build Your Own Ethics Code initiative on May 3 at the International Journalism Festival.

The interactive workshop, presented by an expert panel led by The Associated Press' Tom Kent, will introduce the concept of a toolkit that helps journalists create ethics codes to their specifications to include the many complex issues that are an outgrowth of the 24/7 news cycle and the growing use of social networks. The toolkit begins with fundamentals for any journalist, like truthful reporting and correcting errors, but then branches out to a variety of areas where honest journalists may have different points of view.

"News organizations and individual journalists need clear, transparent ethics codes," said Jane McDonnell, ONA Executive Director. "But with so many approaches to journalism, it's hard to create a code that fits everyone's needs. We're delighted to partner with IJF on this workshop that will present the work we've done so far, lay out some difficult ethics situations and solicit advice on how to solve them from our virtual community of journalists."

Workshop panelists include host Raffaella Menichini, Repubblica.it; journalist Chiara Long Bifano, member, Comitato Tecnico Scientifico, Ordine dei Giornalisti; Giannina Segnini, former La Nacion lead investigative reporter; Wilfred Reutten, Director, European Journalism Center and Mark Kwaiga, Kenyan blogger and journalist.

The Build Your Own Ethics Code is an initiative from the ONA News Ethics Committee. Also appearing at IJF will be a workshop on a second ONA initiative, Social Newsgathering: Charting an Ethical Course, led by Marina Petrillo, Director, Radio Popolare, which will explore the top ethical challenges to reporting via social channels.

ONA will also host IJF panels and workshops on: Digital Journalism and the role for European Public Broadcasters, and Data Journalism in a Hostile Political Environment, Mapping, Online Reputation and Video Mobile.

The Online News Association is the world's largest association of digital journalists. ONA's mission is to inspire innovation and excellence among journalists to better serve the public. The membership includes news writers, producers, designers, editors, bloggers, developers, photographers, educators, students and others who produce news for and support digital delivery systems. ONA also hosts the annual Online News Association conference and administers the Online Journalism Awards.

Contact Information:

For more information, contact:
Jane McDonnell