Future
| Council | Impact |
|---|---|
| Albania | Main impact is that the awareness about self-regulation among the public and within the media sector itself has increased. |
| Armenia | Growing number of complaints |
| Austria | Via its decisions, the press council is able to spark some public debate. A negative decision for media is taken seriously – other media report about these and the debate resonates on social media as well. Guidelines and advice that the Press Council publishes is implemented by the media. |
| Azerbaijan | |
| Belgium (Flanders) | Journalists are more aware of the principles and abide by them to a higher degree. This is true for principles like the right of reply and respect for privacy (especially for vulnerable people) |
| Belgium (Wallonia) | There is a learning effect in the sector – new issues are takceled by statements, explanations, and decisions from the Council; the Council receives many questions from journalists about deontology (before publishing); complainants seem to be learning as their questions seem to get more sophisticated |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | The fact that the Press Council's decisions are published and cited, and that representatives of the press councils have been called on as expert witness in trials |
| Bulgaria | People submit complaints, which shows that they trust the Council's activities; the electronic media regulator forwards cases to the Council; and media/journalists react to unfavourable decisions, which shows that they do care about them |
| Canada | The government and news industry recognize that access to third party complaints resolution is a critical part of trusted, legitimate news media, and have cited that requirement in eligibility documents for financial assistance to the media. The conversation around de-indexing content and reputational privacy has shifted in the wake of the NNC putting that issue on the table. A member who initially objected strongly to our process has become more compliant in responding to and posting decisions. |
| Croatia | Journalists that do genuine reporting take time to answer the complaints and do their best to defend their choices |
| Cyprus | To deal with complaints on journalists' posts on social media. |
| Denmark | Media see it as a quality label when they can put the Council's logo on their website to show that they are covered. Editors and journalist's organizations ask representatives of the council to speak and explain the latest jurisprudence. The Ethical Code is used by media outlets as a basis to formulate their own set of guidelines |
| Estonia | Increasingly, people from the public reach out to the press council to ask questions; all media channels publish decisions of the council; journalists ask questions about ethics. Specifically, by including one local newspaper in the system, their quality of reporting has been improved |
| Finland | The basis of the power and impact of the Council is the vast support from the media industry. Media outlets never protest against reprimand decisions by not publishing them. The Council is also subject to strong trust from the public. The media industry is also motived to obey the guidelines and rulings of the Council. Reprimand decisions are taken seriously. The Council does not have financial sanctions etc. in its tool kit. This means that confidence and support from both, media industry and the public, is essential for the Council. |
| France | The public is increasingly grabbing us. Professionals are less and less reluctant to self-regulate their ethics, and are increasingly responding to our requests |
| Georgia | Among journalists, the recognition is increasing. Journalists are asking the Charter questions about ethical matters, and the membership is increasing over time. Among the public, the number of complaints is increasing, which shows an increased awareness. |
| Germany | One is that self-regulation is well-accepted, both by the public. The (increasing) number of complaints attests to that. Two is that the majority of the media companies accept the system by contributing (financially) and cooperating with the complaints procedures. The vast majority of editors and journalists replies when the Press Council presents them with a complaint from the public. |
| Hungary | Media who have joined are more aware of ethical considerations in reporting, and getting media and complainants to talk about their dissatisfaction with the coverage has always been an educational experience for journalists and editors. |
| Iceland | Surveys show that journalists take the Code of Ethics seriously and abide by the guidelines in their daily work, and the surveys also shows that journalists respect the work of the Ethical Council. The number of upheld complaints has declined over time, which suggests a learning effect in the sector. |
| Ireland | We believe we have a positive influence in regard to ethical standards of journalism and that we provide an effective means whereby the public can seek redress if they perceive a breach of the code of Practice |
| Kazakhstan | The authority of the committee rests on the well-developed Basic Principles of median impartiality in the consideration of complaints and cases in the first year of work, on respect and trust for the members of the committee and the heads of the organization, who spare no effort to promote media ethics issues in the Kazakh community |
| Kosovo | Press council has become a forum for media to meet and discuss (whereas there was hostility between media before). Decisions have impacted media coverage and led to a sensibilization about best practices to report |
| Lithuania | In the solidarity of journalistic organizations and journalists, their wish to strengthen a self regulation system |
| Luxembourg | The Council's advice in ethical matters is requested, and its opinion is heard in matters relating to press freedom and media ethics |
| North Macedonia | Media cooperate with and appreciate the activities of the Council; press releases and statements are regularly covered in the media; media appearances happen on a daily level, civil society organizations invites us to take part in their activities; international organizations quote the Press Council's findings in their analyses. |
| Norway | Decisions of the Council are actively used by media outlets for internal education, decisions are covered in the media |
| Poland | |
| Québec (Canada) | The press council has been an integral part of the media landscape in Québec for 50 years and – in stark contrast to the region – trust in media is high (80%) |
| Serbia | We see that our decisions and monitoring data are used by media industry and other actors, that the media council is included in government documents and in the government's action plan for implementation of media strategy, and last, the bylaws and rules for co-financing of media content in public interest include consultations with council |
| Slovakia | Press Council is respected with regards to their explanation of what ‘good professional journalism ethics' means; Press Council representatives are invited for (public) debates about ethical journalism |
| Slovenia | Journalists respond to complaints, cooperate with the procedures, and are unhappy when council rules against them, which shows that they care. The number of complaints has been consistent over time, which is a sign that the council is transparent in its workings and respected by the public. |
| Spain - Catalonia | The positive appreciation of our work by the public and civil institutions, as well as the increasing number of complaints we receive that shows that the public trusts the work of the Council |
| Sweden | The fact that media cooperate shows that the institution is well-respected and that complaint handling procedures are taken seriously |
| Switzerland | The Council is known among the public and the number of complaints is substantial. The decisions and opinions of the Council are respected and function as guidance for journalists. |
| The Netherlands | Media perceive upheld complaints as something bad; decisions lead to debate in newsrooms and in the media in general, showing that they do care; most of the complaints are published in a faithful way by the media, even though there are no ways of forcing them to |
| Turkey | Most people in Turkey have heard of us, although few know/understand our precise role |
| United Kingdom (Impress) | Building, growing, and nurturing a system of approved regulation that allows independent news publishers to hold themselves to account on matters of journalistic principles and ethics. Establishing a benchmark for accountability and transparency in the media. Promoting a fair and collaborative approach to promoting the press while preserving the principles of a free press, from hyperlocal to global, in the modern media age. |
| United Kingdom (IPSO) | IPSO provides an invaluable public resource to those who feel wronged by press conduct and a fount of accountability for newspapers and magazines in the UK. We raise media literacy, increase public understanding of journalism and advocate for the fundamental public interest in freedom of expression. |
| Council | Challenges |
|---|---|
| Albania | An upcoming law that regulates online news coverage, which is a threat to press freedom; no structural financing, meaning a dependence on project-funding and international donors. |
| Armenia | Institutional development and registration as legal entity |
| Austria | A big challenge for print media is that the advertisement market is declining. For the Council, it is a challenge to adapt to the online environment and get online-only media, as well as tv and radio, on board. Also, the complaints procedure should be simplified. |
| Azerbaijan | |
| Belgium (Flanders) | One challenge is to adapt the ethical guidelines for topics like AI (Artificial Intelligence) and the use of algorithmically constructed data, such as Twitter trending topics. Another future challenge is to promote the model of press councils as alternative for regulation/certification of media. For the Flemish media, there is the danger that commercial pressures might lead to a less clearly demarcation between journalism and advertisement (for example, native advertising). |
| Belgium (Wallonia) | One, teaching the public about journalistic rights (not just about the duties that journalists have); Two, the Council could be misused to put pressure on journalists, media, and legal system; Three, is the challenge to have a voice at the European table |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | The proliferation of hate speech in the media, huge political influence on editorial content, limited amount of ‘serious' journalism and investigative journalism, divided audiences without common narrative about common topics. |
| Bulgaria | Four challenges: from government, there are attempts at regulating media; rise of internet media and un-institutional actors, raising the question what ‘media' are; economically, legacy media are dying; specifically for tv: a bigger importance of entertainment over ethics. |
| Canada | First, there are financial challenges, although legislated deals between Google and Facebook and the media, could offer relief. Furthermore, there is a lack of support for making broadcast websites subject to complaints review. Last, news media illiteracy that allows proliferation of misinformation through online sites, and there are related questions about how to define who is a journalist. |
| Croatia | The association is being slapped with lawsuits; enormous amount of political pressure on journalism |
| Cyprus | |
| Denmark | AI and algorithmic serving of custom-tailored content to readers, which makes it difficult to establish afterwards what actually was the content of the article. |
| Estonia | Challenge is whether the Code and practices of the Council should be updated because of online media. More generally, should the Code remain general in nature, or should it stipulate specific guidelines? |
| Finland | Nowadays various kinds of individuals and organisations are able to quite easily publish content which resembles journalistic content even though it is not journalism from the perspective of the Council. This may confuse the public. It becomes more and more essential for the media outlets which commit themselves to self-regulation to point out to the public that they act more responsibly than these other types of media. |
| France | Surviving ;-) |
| Georgia | There is a difficulty to find structural funding for this organization. Also, it is challenging to increase the awareness about the Charter and media self-regulation in general. |
| Germany | The German media system is generally stable. One challenge is that the increasing number of complaints that the Presserat receives may necessitate more resources. Another concern is that the content on social media is not being evaluated by any independent institution. Big internet companies do their moderation themselves, but are inherently biased (for financial reasons), so this leaves a lot of content for which there is no impartial arbiter. Because of their limited capacity, press councils cannot deal with this, either. |
| Hungary | Keeping the Council afloat with a limited budget and limited resources is the main challenge for the future. Increasing public awareness of the Council is another goal. |
| Iceland | The Icelandic media market is very small and faces declinining advertisements (revenues that are now scooped up by Facebook and Google). In addition, the number of subscribers to traditional media outlets is declining. |
| Ireland | With the convergence of media and the decline of traditional print media the biggest challenge is staying relevant |
| Kazakhstan | The challenges are that there may be new organizations that want to conduct the same activity, we will only welcome such organizations and support them with our experience. Another challenge is that events in the international arena will not allow us to communicate more closely with colleagues from other countries. Here we see an exit in online solutions. Our work will be only welcomed and the further there are more fakes and materials with gross violations of ethics. We help fight disinformation and propaganda by telling what professional journalists should avoid. |
| Kosovo | Financial sustainabilty is a big issue, since the council is dependent on grants and donors for their day-to-day functioning. Another is that there may be initiatives from the government to regulate online media, which may harm journalistic freedom. |
| Lithuania | Attempts to undervalue the importance of journalistic ethic and self regulation. |
| Luxembourg | For the media sector: Convergence of media and its implications for plurality of content; to what extent the independence of the press can be guaranteed when the media are dependent on the state for a large chunk of their revenues. For press council: brand recognition among the general public should be enhanced; the structure of the press council (devised around legacy media) makes it hard to adapt to developments in the media sector |
| North Macedonia | No structural funding, so continuation of funding is an issue; certain media distancing themselves from the press council with own, politically-motivated initiatives; overrepresentation of internet portals in the complaints, which might give the impression that the press council exists only for these media |
| Norway | For the press council, its capacity to handle complaints could be an issue (a new complaints officer has just been hired for this reason). Another challenge is to recruit digital media for the self- |
| Poland | |
| Québec (Canada) | The main challenge is financial – since the media that finance the Council are struggling in terms of business, it is becoming increasingly difficult for them to contribute to the Council; a second challenge is to increase the awareness of the Council and its workings, both among journalists and towards the public; third challenge is how to draw borders around ‘journalism' when any individual can start their own publication (outside of the traditional media companies) |
| Serbia | to ave a higher proportion of decisions published by media outlets,to persuade those owners / editors who currently refuse, to cooperate with complaints process, to be more visible to citizens, to work towards financial sustainability |
| Slovakia | • increased importance of digital presence of print media • new media act: the possibility for politicians to respond to evaluative judgments in the media. • violations of ethical code by alternative media • threat of restriction of freedom of expression - the need to discuss the restriction on media distributing harmful content - fake news • algoritms |
| Slovenia | The membership of the association is declining; the increasing work pressure in newsrooms makes it difficult for journalists to do media council work on a voluntary basis; there is the question of whether or not publishers should be included in the system of self-regulation |
| Spain - Catalonia | The Covid-19 impact in media and the public |
| Sweden | To get new, digital-only media involved in the self-regulatory mechanism |
| Switzerland | The biggest challenge is the precarious financial situation of the organization |
| The Netherlands | For the Council, one challenge is to have a higher proportion of decisions published in the media outlets. Another challenge is to persuade those editors/journalists who currently refuse to cooperate with complaints procedure. For the Dutch media landscape, challenges are the possible consequences of the COVID-19-crisis, as well as a decline in advertising revenues. |
| Turkey | Financial issues and governmental pressure, including judicial harrassment |
| United Kingdom (Impress) | • Economic and financial issues affecting the sustainability of the journalism industry and longevity of the independent news sector • Social media platforms role in surfacing and giving prominence to news, irrespective of whether the news outlet are regulated, or whether their content is ethical and in the public interest. • Ongoing state interference in the news market through state funding, competition regulation, content regulation and, reform of human rights law and national security. |
| United Kingdom (IPSO) | Mis- and dis-information pose real threats to trust in journalism. The economic situation of many news publishers is also threatened by changes to the digital economy and loss of advertising revenue. Both of these matters are of great concern to IPSO and pose their own potential challenges to our system of independent press regulation. |
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