Daily transparency

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ETHICS AND FAIRNESS

Transparency

Many journalists value transparency and want to be transparent with their audiences.

We know, thanks to research, that when newsrooms provide explanations and insight into the reporting process that can help people better understand your goals and motivations while also improving perceptions of your news organization. We also know this type of transparency helps prevent people from making negative assumptions about your work, which can lead to distrust.

Fundamentally, transparency elements are designed to tell your audience what you want them to know about you — your processes, your people, your motivation, your ethics and your values.

For journalists, it can be tough to picture what transparency should look like — both on a brand level and in day-to-day coverage.

This Trust Kit will walk you through how to decide when transparency elements are needed in day-to-day coverage, how to write them, and how to share them publicly with your audience.

We know giving explanations and insight into the reporting process helps improve people’s trust in news organizations. So why aren’t we seeing more transparency? 

Goals

 

This Trust Kit helps you:

    • Decide what to explain about your reporting process
    • Prioritize when and where you should include transparency elements
    • Determine how to share transparency elements with the public    

 

Start here

Start by making a list of what your audience members have asked you to explain. Think about common questions or complaints you respond to or when you have to set the record straight about how you did something. Also, think what you wish they understood or knew about your reporting. 

Once you have a list, start writing the answers. Keep the questions and answers in one location (like a Google doc) so they can be easily accessed and ready to add to a story.

If you have a story about a topic likely to create controversy or if it’s a story you put extra care into, consider picking one (or more) of these questions to answer:

Want more guidance? This quick video walks you through determining which stories would benefit most from transparency elements.   

Then, share those answers publicly. We’re big fans of injecting transparency into the places where you already have people’s attention, instead of relying on a separate editor’s column or behind-the-scenes story. (And when you do write separate columns or explainers, be sure to link to them from the coverage itself!) The next section walks you through how to do this. 

Where to put transparency elements

Think about how you can insert explanations in places where your user is actively consuming your news content. 

Some possible ideas include: 

  • In a box: A simple and popular option is to add a pull-out box next to or below a text story (online or in print).
  • In a note above a story: Explain a key fact about your reporting or the motivation behind your coverage in an italicized note at the top or bottom of a story.
  • Within an on-air story: The conversational style of broadcast TV and radio can be a natural fit for adding process language.
  • Within a text story: It’s not as awkward as you might think to add this information directly into a story, and then link to full policies/explanations from the text.
  • Within a social post: Include rationale within the share text, in a thread or as the top comment.
  • In newsletter text: When you invite people to click through to a story, try telling people why you invested in the coverage.

See how other newsrooms do it

Here are some examples of how newsrooms are injecting transparency in daily coverage. For more newsroom examples, check our our newsroom example database.  

 

Newsroom example: ABC10. In an on-air story about a man who was injured while being taken into police custody, anchor Alex Bell in Sacramento sets the story up with care. She explains why the story was done, how the newsroom took their time and how the journalists worked to be fair. She addresses how she and her coworkers debated whether to air police body cam video.
ABC10: On-Air Transparency. A screenshot of Alex Bell on a segmnet of "To the Point."
Newsroom example: ABC10. This is a great example of how a newsroom can inject transparency into daily coverage. Remember: People don't automatically assume your newsroom has firm ethical foundations or cares about being thoughtful with coverage. In this case, a skeptical source contacted the station after the story aired and said reached out after it aired and said, "the part where you talk about not harming anyone regarding showing video… thank you for being considerate to the family."
Newsroom example: News Channel 5. In an on-air story about how a Tennessee congressman spent money raised through a GoFundMe, NewsChannel 5 reporter Phil Williams added transparency elements providing viewers with insight into several different elements of the reporting process — a process most people do not understand.
News Channel 5 / On-air transparency. What did congressman Andy Ogles do with nearly $25,000 meant for child burial garden? He won't say
Newsroom example: News 5 Channel. In his TV package, Williams demonstrates how elements of reporting can be easily explained throughout a story without interrupting the story flow, making the story much longer or adding complexity to the narrative. The way he shines light on his reporting process is smooth and effective.
Newsroom example: The Seattle TImes. Seattle Times engagement editor Taylor Blatchford and her colleagues solicited questions from readers about how investigative journalism works, then published an FAQ answering the questions. "Investigative reporting is time-consuming and can be wonky, involving documents, data and fact-checking, but readers only see the finished product. We want to pull back the curtain on the work that goes into our stories, so we asked readers what they wanted to know," Blatchford wrote. Each question can be linked to individually, making it easy for editors to be responsive to future curiosity or complaints.
Seattle Times / Investigative team FAQ
Newsroom example: Pittsburgh PublicSource. Here’s how Pittsburgh PublicSource used a box to add transparency around how they were covering a story about sexual assault survivors. The box includes language that explains how they reported the story and how they worked to be especially careful and sensitive as they shared survivors' stories.
Public Source / Transparency Box.
Newsroom example: Shawnee mission post. The Shawnee Mission Post used an editor’s note to add transparency around why they decided to do coverage outside of their normal scope. In just a few sentences, they were able to help set the stage for the story, explain how their coverage is separate from national talking points, and show they care about reader questions and feedback.
Shawnee Mission Post / Editor's note. Why am I seeing this story? While The Post typically focuses on local issues at the exclusion of statewide or national politics, we’ve received multiple inquiries from readers in recent weeks about the signs that have been popping up around town advocating for or against the proposed “Value The Both” amendment. Specifically, readers wanted to know whether it was legal for churches to display signs advocating for a political cause given their tax exempt status. We try our best to be responsive to reader inquiries, which is why we decided to take a look at the campaigns for and against the amendment and the rules that govern churches’ involvement in politics.
Newsroom Example: PROPUBLICA. ProPublica simply inserted transparency into a story itself on why they published Parler users' videos from the Capitol riot. Even though in this example, ProPublic didn’t get into its full policy, just linking to the longer explanation shows evidence of thoughtful, consistent decision-making — whether users click through to the whole policy or not.
ProPublica/In story text.
Newsroom Example: The Graph. When including a story about Covid vaccines in their newsletter roundup, The Graph at Pepperdine University included a box in their newsletter that explained why they had included anonymous sources in the story.
The Graph/Newsletter Transparency. This article uses an anonymous student source. WHY DID WE USE AN ANONYMOUS SOURCE? The Graphic uses anonymous sources in very rare cases. An anonymous source would be considered by the Graphic when the source has a serious concern about privacy and that source is considered to be credible by editors and advisers. For this piece, a student was granted anonymity due to health privacy policies and their protection under the law.
Newsroom example: Atlanta Journal-Constitution. After sending out public record requests, Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Jennifer Peebles shared a Twitter thread explaining how and why she works to get public records, and why public records laws are so important. Throughout the thread, she weaves both humor and personal credibility into the transparency around how this aspect of journalism works.
AJC/Social Media transparency.

We’re here to help!

Congratulations on getting this far in the Trust Kit! We know taking the steps to earn trust isn’t always simple or easy. It takes time and often requires a shift in newsroom routines or workflows.

Any progress you make on implementing strategies in this Trust Kit should be celebrated as a win!

If you find yourself getting stuck, need help brainstorming, or completed the work in a Trust Kit and would like our team to review and give additional advice, reach out to us at info@trustingnews.org or send us a message on Twitter.

This Trust Kit was last updated Feb. 19, 2024. 

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