The study measured the news outlets on five categories, as outlined by the ICMPA:

“ - Corrections: Willingness to openly correct mistakes.
   - Ownership: Openness about corporate ownership.
   - Staff Policies: Openness about conflicts of interest.
   - Reporting Policies: Openness about editorial guidelines.
   - Interactivity: Openness to reader comments and criticism.”

The study revealed that most companies revealed their owners fairly well, although the detail provided did vary.

In addition, most news sites provide some means for their users to contact them about news coverage. Some of the more prevalent means were letters to the ombudsman, letters to the editor, emailing correspondents directly or through on-site blogs, live chats, or posting remarks at the bottom of stories.

However, “only 11 out of the 25 news sites visibly post corrections to their stories,” reports the study. The broadcast outlets did particularly poorly on this category, with the exception of CBS News.

In addition, news sites were quite poor at publishing their guidelines for writing and editing stories. As the study further discusses, one would think that the media would be keen to publish these guidelines to illustrate their honesty, accountability and credibility, but the opposite was found.

Indeed, in this digital age one of the main advantages professional media has over amateurs is their reputation, a reputation that one might argue should be exploited more and more with the continually increasing competition.

Source: International Center for Media and the Public Agenda through ifra Executive News Service