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. 1 OPINION A NEW ERA OF ETHICS FOR OUR JOURNALISM | AN INCREASED COMMITMENT TO THE TRANSPARENCY THAT HELPS BUILD TRUST WITH OUR READERS, WRITES KATHY ENGLISH KATHY ENGLISH Column po ETE "I don't believe we should have a code of ethics if we can't live with it"" I wrote those words on April 8, 1984 in a memo to then Star deputy managing editor John Miller who was tasked with thé important job of creating the Toronto Star's first written code of conduct for its journalists and who had reached out to the newsroom for our in- Jput. As an idealistic young "cityside" general assign- ment reporter in that news- room, I had strong views on the need for an ethics guide for journalists. In my long- winded memo, the print- out of which I have saved in my files all these years, I told him: "I don't believe anyone can work in the newspaper business with- out confronting questions of ethics head-on. "I think each of us has « our own personal code of ethics and strive to live by it as we do our job... But, I still think it's important for the paper to lay down the stan- SERVICE NEXT DAY APPOINTMENTS AVAILABLE Call or email appointments@gallingerford.coni dards it wants to uphold." Some 24 years later - dur- ing which time I was away from the Star for 16 years teaching journalism and working in what we called "new media" in the late 1990s - here I am to tell you about the latest iteration of the Torstar Journalistic Standards Guide published last week on our website and on all Torstar news sites. And to tell you also, that everything that ideal- ist young reporter believed all those years ago about the importance of journal- istic standards holds true for me in today's 24/7 multi- platform newsrooms. Most important, in this new era of misinformation and dwindling trust, when journalists must work harder than ever to earn the trust of our readers, I ' believe strongly in the ac- countability and transpar- ency of having: a well- thought out guide to jour- nalism standards - and of making it easily accessible to readers. To that end, a link to the guide is now em- bedded on every piece of content on thestar.com. Links to the guide are also published on all other Tor- star news sites. As the standards guide makes clear, these policies apply to all Torstar editori- al staff in the creation and publication of all editorial conteht on any platform. They also apply to all free- lancers when creating con- tent for Torstar news- rooms. The introduction to this guide makes clear its pur- pose: "This 2018 version of the Torstar Journalistic Stan- dards Guide provides a comprehensive journalistic principles and conduct to guide us in our mission: to responsibly en- gage and connect with our readers on all platforms with trusted news, informa- tion and content to help ,make their lives, their com- munities, our country and our world better." But it also recognizes the fact that no journalism standards guide can antici- pate all the possibilities journalists might face, in the complex work of report: 4 ing, writing and presenting the news on many plat- forms. Believe me, journal- ism is far more complex now. than when'1 was a 20- something reporter. As.the guide now states: "No code of conduct can cover every eventuality in the 24-7 production of news and information on multi- ple platforms. . Common sense, good judgment and the journalist's own moral compass must be brought to bear on any set of guide- lines." In line with this news or- ganization's increased com- mitment to the transparen- cy that helps build trust with our readers, the cuithe asks that we be able to ex- plain the journalistic judg- ments we make: "We should be prepared to explain publicly what we do in gathering and pre- senting news and informa- tion and the journalistic judgments involved in all we publish." Such transparency is code of not always easy for journal- ists. But the demands of transparency and the in- creased need for greater media literacy make for a greater than ever impera- tive that journalists be able to explain what they do and how and why they do it. I have always believed we owe that to our audiences. These Torstar journal- ism standards, some of which date back to even be- fore Miller first set them down in a TorontoStar eth- ics code in 1984, were re- viewed and updated in past months by a committee that included me, Toronto Star editor Irene Gentle, Star- Metro editor-in-chief Cath- rin Bradbury, Hamilton Spectator editor-in-chief, Paul Berton and Torstar Community Brands direc- tor of content, Joanne Burghardt, with input from several reporters and edi-' tors across our Torstar newsrooms. In updating this guide, we aimed to make it reflec- tive of current digital real- ities while staying true to the principles that. have long guided our journalism - most importantly - accu- racy, fairness and indepen- dence from those we cover. I expect you will hear much more specific stan- dards in days to come. Meanwhile, I invite you to check them out for your- self. " Kathy English is the public editor of Torstar. 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