News Media Europe supports serious efforts to strengthen public trust in journalism and to counter disinformation. Journalism cannot be reduced to compliance with a single international standard, and public trust cannot be conferred by a certificate. In that sense, schemes like the Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI) promoted by Reporters Without Borders, completely miss the mark.
JTI is presented as voluntary and focused on editorial processes rather than content. Yet a voluntary standard ceases to be truly voluntary when public authorities, online platforms, funding bodies or advertisers use it to determine eligibility, prominence or economic reward. This would concentrate considerable power in those who define, audit and withdraw the certification, without the democratic safeguards required when media freedom and pluralism are at stake.
A uniform certification model also fails to reflect Europe’s diverse legal, cultural and self-regulatory traditions, as well as national market conditions. It risks favouring large organisations that can absorb audit and compliance costs while disadvantaging smaller, local and independent publishers. More fundamentally, procedural conformity is not proof of trustworthy journalism: a propaganda outlet may satisfy formal requirements, while a serious newsroom may lack the resources or organisational model needed to secure certification. The result may be false reassurance for some and unjustified suspicion of others.
These concerns are shared across the profession. In its resolution on labels, certification and self-regulation[1], adopted in Ankara on 18–19 June 2026, the European Federation of Journalists warned that media certification is risky and misleading; rejected its use as a condition for European aid and subsidies; and highlighted the danger that platforms and algorithms could use labels to reduce the visibility and advertising revenue of non-certified media. The convergence of publishers and journalists on this point should be taken seriously.
We therefore call on EU institutions, national authorities, online platforms, advertisers and donors not to endorse, require, or incentivise JTI certification, and not to use it as a criterion for funding, distribution, ranking or recognition as a trusted media service. Voluntary self-assessment may serve as an internal newsroom tool, but it must not become a policy benchmark or a market-access condition.
The better path is to protect pluralism and strengthen trust through ensuring market conditions that allow for financial viability and sustainability of the press, independent national press councils, professional ethics, media literacy and platform accountability. Trust is earned through editorial independence, accountability and a direct relationship with audiences. It cannot be outsourced to an arbitrary certificate or label of some sort.
Wout van Wijk
Executive Director, News Media Europe.
[1] https://europeanjournalists.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-Resolutions-and-statements.docx.pdf