Ethical media governance

This edition is addressed to stakeholders in the Media Industry and in particular to the corporate and journalistic managements of Media organizations of all types, subject matter, size and technological integration that distribute content through web applications and platforms. The manual strengthens the documentation and supports the need for self-regulation with ethical and quality standards for the ethical governance of the Media. It presents the ways in which a Total Quality Management System can be developed, which can provide a constructive response to the challenges of transparency, reliability and independence facing the media industry. It also includes a self-assessment system for compliance with the Code of Conduct. The first part describes the current environment, problems and risks for the media industry and their impact on society. It discusses European policy initiatives on press freedom and independence, regulatory regimes in the online media ecosystem and digital platforms, contemporary challenges such as disinformation, lack of transparency and accountability, and risks to freedom of expression and therefore for democratic citizenship. The second part of the thematic and conceptual framing examines the concept of ethical governance itself and the relationship between self-regulating ethical frameworks and soft law. Also included is an examination of the concepts of media ethics and journalism in particular. Building on the first two parts, which set out the rationale and analysis of ethical media governance in organizational management matters, parts three and four provide an overview of existing practices of such applications, and part four offers a detailed, but flexible, framework that organizations can adopt. The third part presents some of the important quality assurance initiatives of the media industry and the international standards that could be adopted for media governance. Each of the International Standards is auditable and some are certified by independent accredited bodies as proof of compliance with the principles of social responsibility. In the fourth part, proposals are presented for the adoption of ethical governance, the way of establishing ethical standards and the rationale of the “ethos” Standard, an Ethical and Quality Management System (EMGMS ethos), as well as the appropriate technical and organizational measures for ethical self-regulation by design and by definition. Included are methods of content quality control and compliance with ethical standards, suggestions for improving journalistic competence and good practices for interacting with the public.

Βασίλης Βασιλόπουλος (Συγγραφέας)

Ο Δρ Βασίλης Βασιλόπουλος είναι DPO στα ελληνικά δημόσια μέσα ενημέρωσης της ΕΡΤ ΑΕ και για επτά χρόνια ήταν Διευθυντής Περιεχομένου Ψηφιακών Μέσων στην ΕΡΤ ΑΕ. Για την υλοποίηση του έργου απαιτήθηκε η πιστοποίηση του συγγραφέα από τον διεθνή οργανισμό IRCA, ως επικεφαλής επιθεωρητής συστημάτων διαχείρισης ποιότητας σύμφωνα με το πρότυπο ISO 9001:2015. Προκειμένου να εξυπηρετηθεί ο σκοπός της πληρότητας της προσέγγισης, εξετάστηκε η ενσωμάτωση απαιτήσεων από τα παραπάνω ISO, συμπεριλαμβανομένων εκείνων για την ασφάλεια πληροφοριών και την αντιμετώπιση περιστατικών, την επιχειρησιακή συνέχεια και την επαγγελματική υγεία και ασφάλεια.
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Dr. Vasilis Vasilopoulos is DPO in the Greek public media of ERT SA and for seven years he was Director of Digital Media Content at ERT SA. The implementation of the project required the certification of the author by the international organization IRCA, as a chief inspector of quality management systems according to the ISO 9001:2015 standard. In order to serve the purpose of completeness of the approach, consideration was given to incorporating requirements from the above ISOs, including those for information security and incident response, business continuity and occupational health and safety.

(Πηγή: “Εκδόσεις Ταξιδευτής”, 2023)

 

Κατερίνα Σαρικάκη (Συγγραφέας)

Η καθηγήτρια Κατερίνα Σαρικάκη είναι διευθύντρια του Εργαστηρίου Έρευνας για τη Διακυβέρνηση και τη Βιομηχανία των Μέσων Μαζικής Ενημέρωσης, στο Πανεπιστήμιο της Βιέννης, το οποίο ίδρυσε το 2011. Είναι επίσης διευθύντρια του Κέντρου Αριστείας Jean Monnet FREuDeCommunication, Facts and Regulation for Europe που διερευνά τους τρόπους με τους οποίους το ακαδημαϊκό έργο και το έργο των ενδιαφερόμενων φορέων μπορούν να γεφυρωθούν και να εφαρμοστούν προς όφελος των ευρωπαϊκών δημοκρατιών. Η καθηγήτρια Σαρικάκη είναι επισκέπτης συνεργάτης του University of Witswatersrand της Νότιας Αφρικής και έχει διατελέσει, μεταξύ άλλων, κάτοχος της Έδρας Αριστείας Santander στο UC3M 2018-2019, Ισπανία, καθώς και επισκέπτης Senior Fellow στο London School of Economics and Political Science το 2018. Είναι σύμβουλος διεθνών οργανισμών όπως ο ΟΑΣΕ, τα θεσμικά όργανα της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης και ΜΚΟ, ενώ διετέλεσε πρόεδρος της Επιτροπής Εμπειρογνωμόνων Υψηλού Επιπέδου για την Έκθεση για την Ποιότητα της Δημοσιογραφίας και το ψήφισμα που εγκρίθηκε από το Συμβούλιο της Ευρώπης.
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Professor Katharine Sarikakis is director of the Media Governance and Industry Research Laboratory at the University of Vienna, which she founded in 2011. She is also director of the Jean Monnet Center of Excellence FREuDeCommunication, Facts and Regulation for Europe which investigates the ways with which academic and stakeholder work can be bridged and applied to the benefit of European democracies. Professor Sarikakis is a visiting fellow of the University of Witswatersrand, South Africa, and has held, among others, the Santander Chair of Excellence at UC3M 2018-2019, Spain, as well as a visiting Senior Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science in 2018. She is consultant to international organizations such as the OSCE, the institutions of the European Union and NGOs, while he was the chairman of the High Level Committee of Experts on the Report on the Quality of Journalism and the resolution adopted by the Council of Europe.

(Πηγή: “Εκδόσεις Ταξιδευτής”, 2023)