The International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO) has announced a partnership with the media and journalism organisation, The Trust Project (TTP), to address misinformation, support free news media, and strengthen the public’s access to reliable news and information around the globe.

Appropriately this announcement comes as we are immersed in ICCO’s PR Ethics Month, which emphasises the responsibility of communications professionals to centre their work in truth, facts, and ethical practices.

ICCO has been a specialist advisor to the Council of Europe (COE) on issues including media literacy and free speech, and TTP will support this work going forward.

The partnership will also allow ICCO, together with TTP, to promote the Trust Indicators® as a powerful news literacy tool for PR professionals, clients and the general public. The organisations will collaborate to create new resources, tools, standards and a series of activities across our geographies that will promote freedom of speech, media literacy and education.

The Trust Project is a US-based not-for-profit that works with news organizations around the world to amplify journalism’s commitment to transparency, accuracy, inclusion, and fairness so that the public can make informed news choices. TTP’s News Partners include CBC, The Economist, El País, The Washington Post, Il Sole 24 Ore and more than 200 other online, print and television media from around the world.

“Misinformation spreads quickly, damaging the work of PR and communications, therefore it is essential we support trusted, credible media. PR also relies on a free media to report information without fear of punishment. Without a free press, there is no free communications. I look forward to partnering with The Trust Project in our work with the Council of Europe and with our members, on building productive networks, campaigns and shared practices between trusted media and trusted PR” said Massimo Moriconi, Europe President, ICCO.

“I am pleased that public relations professionals, led by ICCO, are helping to lead the effort to elevate honesty over misleading reports and claims,” said Sally Lehrman, chief executive and founder of the Trust Project. “The rise of both misinformation and attacks on the press make our collaboration urgent and essential.”

For further information about ICCO’s work with TTP or COE, please contact rob.morbin@iccopr.com

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About ICCO:

The International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO) is the voice of public relations consultancies around the world. The ICCO membership comprises 41 associations representing 70 countries across the globe: from Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, the Americas, and Australasia. Collectively, these associations represent over 3,000 PR firms. For more visit http://iccopr.com/

 

About the Trust Project:

The Trust Project is a global network of news organizations working to affirm and amplify journalism’s commitment to transparency, accuracy and inclusion. The project created the Trust Indicators®, which are a collaborative, journalism-generated standard for news that helps both regular people and the technology companies’ machines easily assess the authority and integrity of news. The Trust Indicators are based in robust user-centered design research and respond to public needs and wants. For more visit thetrustproject.org/faq/