Media Standards Trust

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The Media Standards Trust was formed in 2006 to address the concerns of a deterioration in journalistic standards at a time when the media was becoming enormously powerful while predominantly opaque and unaccountable.[1]

This is seen as a consequence of the revolutionary changes in way in which news is produced, funded, packaged, delivered and consumed, and it has led to less accurate reporting, less substantial sourcing, an escalation in the use of "manufactured news", an increase in self-censorship, a growth of subjective over objective reporting, and a reduction in sustained, in-depth reporting on the ground.[2]

To these ends it hosts debates about standards in the news media,[3] conducts research into areas of concern, and hosts on-line projects, as well as co-sponsoring The Orwell Prize.

[edit] Funding

Foundations which have contributed of the Media Standards Trust include Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, MacArthur Foundation, Nuffield Foundation, Eranda Foundation, Scott Trust.

Individuals who have contributed to the Trust include Christopher Stone, Robert Worcester.[4] See also page on the charity commission

[edit] People

The director of the Media Standards Trust is Martin Moore, author of The Origins of Modern Spin - Democratic Government and the Media in Britain, 1945-51 (ISBN 9781403989567).

The Board of Trustees is

  • Sir David Bell (Chairman, Financial Times Group)
  • Julia Middleton (CEO, Common Purpose)
  • Sir Cyril Chantler (Chairman, King's Fund)
  • Sir Robert Worcester (Founder, MORI)
  • Tim Waterstone (Founder of Waterstones bookstores and Daisy & Tom children's department stores)
  • Robert Peston (Business Editor, BBC)
  • William Davies (Goldsmiths College, London)
  • Roger Graef (Films of Record)
  • Baroness Helena Kennedy QC
  • John McCormick (Scottish Qualifications Authority)
  • Stephen George Platten (Bishop of Wakefield)
  • Geraint Talfan Davies (Chair, Institute of Welsh Affairs)
  • Anthony Salz (Executive Vice Chairman, NM Rothschild)
  • Sue Stapely (Quiller Consultants/Sue Stapely Consulting)
  • Amelia Fawcett (Vice Chairman, Morgan Stanley)
  • Albert Scardino (journalist, editor)
  • Sir Philip Otton (retired judge)

[edit] Projects

In 2007 the Trust founded www.journalisted.com (originally called journa-list.com until the hyphen turned out to be too clever).[5] This site scrapes the news articles from a dozen national outlets and sorts them according to byline.