ICCO and The Trust Project team up to promote media freedom

The International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO) has partnered with media and journalism organisation The Trust Project (TTP) to support a free news media, address misinformation and promote public access to accurate news and information.

Already a specialist advisor to the Council of Europe on free speech and media literacy, ICCO will now be supported by TTP in this work. The partnership will also promote the Trust Indicators as news literacy tool for those working in PR, their clients and the public. ICCO and TTP will collaborate on resources, tools, new standards for the industry and activities to promote education on free speech and media literary across the globe.

ICCO’s Europe president Massimon Moriconi said of the partnership: ‘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’.

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

September is ICCO’s PR Ethics Month, which aims to highlight the importance of facts, ethics and truth in the communications industry.
US-based not-for-profit The Trust Project works with news organisations to promote transparency and truth, and enable the public to make informed news choices. It has partnered with over 200 print, online and television media across the world.

For more on ethics in PR, read up on the PRCA Ethics Council’s first Annual Perspective, released earlier this year.

Interested in how the media industry can tackle misinformation? Download our ResponseSource whitepaper Fact-checking and fast news: Expert lessons for journalists and the media.