Following an international audit of LRT, the Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI) Programme rated LRT’s compliance with international standards of trustworthy journalism at 100 percent.
LRT became the first public media organisation in the region to be awarded the internationally recognised JTI Certificate.
“LRT has always held itself to the highest standards of integrity and credibility: a few years ago, we developed the Code of Ethics of Journalists of LRT, and last year we adopted LRT’s Editorial Policy. But we have no intention of stopping, and we are constantly improving our quality. That is why last year LRT joined the Journalism Trust Initiative, which provides international standards and enables media outlets to apply these standards in their own practice,” said Monika Garbačiauskaitė-Budrienė, director general of LRT.
“The JTI certificate is a kind of universal journalistic quality label that should indicate sources of trustworthy news to our audiences,” Garbačiauskaitė-Budrienė added. “I am delighted that LRT is the first public service media in the region to receive the JTI certificate and to be among the international media leaders. I invite other media to do the same – the standards are not just for public service broadcasters.”
Following the LRT’s accession to the JTI initiative, LRT has substantially updated its editorial policy and editorial processes, principles and rules, as well as other documents governing LRT staff management and other LRT activities according to the JTI standards.
“It is important to emphasise that the updated LRT Editorial Policy is not just a handbook of rules that our journalists are bound to. The document is accessible to the public and allows our viewers, listeners, and readers to evaluate LRT’s work based on our commitments, and for us to be accountable vis-à-vis our audiences,” said Lina Joskaudaitė-Dmitrijeva, head of LRT’s Legal and Vindication Division and deputy chair of the LRT Ethics Commission.
LRT’s compliance with the JTI standards of transparency, professionalism and accountability was independently assessed by the international audit firm Deloitte Asutralia. The JTI certificate was granted in February 2022 after assessing LRT against criteria such as accuracy of journalistic content, source responsibility, accountability for adherence to journalistic principles, internal and external oversight and accountability mechanisms that governs its news production, and others.
The JTI standards also include requirements for the organisation to ensure social guarantees for journalists, to have transparent recruitment guidelines, to ensure equal opportunities, to have a safety policy, and to fulfil other obligations to its employees.
The Credible Journalism Initiative belongs to the international organisation Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans Frontières, RSF).
JTI standards were developed in 2019, following recommendations from the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN), with the participation of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), Agence France Press and international experts, more than 120 media experts and organisations in total.
Currently, more than 500 media outlets around the world are participating in the Journalism Trust Initiative at various stages of the process, with Public Service Media such as France Télévisions, RTE News in Ireland, the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SWI, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation CBC News/Radio-Canada are JTI certified.
The initiative proposes a multi-stage programme. Participants are first asked to assess their compliance with the standards by answering a specific questionnaire. Those who wish can choose to make their results public. In the final stage, at the request of the media outlet, its compliance with the JTI indicators is assessed and certified by an international auditing company.
More about the JTI initiative.
LRT’s responses to the JTI questionnaire and the LRT Credibility Report are available here.
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