Emerging Transparency Systems for News Governance to Protect Media Independence and Credibility in the Digital Infosphere

Abstract Media capture and disinformation are two problems that exist in all media markets with greater or lesser extent. The current digital context is helping to exacerbate these problems, which represent the two main threats to the public's right to be informed in a constitutional democracy. The current legal-constitutional frameworks to protect the public’s right to information across EU jurisdictions are no longer effective in guaranteeing two elements associated with this fundamental right: the independence of the media and the duty of truthfulness of journalists. As a solution to this problem, a system of transparency of media companies to reinforce these two elements may become a complementary tool to effectively guarantee the right to information. In this context, a number of voluntary transparency systems of news media organizations are emerging in the European Union and the United States to strengthen media independence and editorial credibility. In this article I first describe and compare these systems by using criteria associated with effective transparency policies. Then I identify standards that are common to all the initiatives focusing on news governance and I evaluate how these standards are being already implemented by a sample of five Anglo American media brands that are enjoying the credibility of their users evidenced by the increasing levels of subscription rates.