(Credit: NCTJ, screenshot)

The National Council for the Training of Journalists held a Journalism Skills conference in late November. At that conference, the council called for “a new ethics module to be included in the Diploma in Journalism,” according to its press release on the announcement.

iMediaEthics asked the NCTJ for more information about how this new ethics module will affect UK journalism.  The NCTJ’s Emma Clark explained to iMediaEthics:

“The National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) is the UK industry training body for journalism and the Diploma in Journalism is the industry standard qualification. We are proposing the addition of a compulsory ‘Practical Journalism Ethics’ module to the Diploma structure. We are still in the early stages of development but the implementation of this module will ensure that all students completing the Diploma in Journalism will study the same ethics content.

“Our accredited courses already deliver ethics training throughout their courses but, while we assess regulation to a high standard, there is currently no overall standard and no assessment for the practical application of ethics. The introduction of this module will change this.”

At an earlier conference last month, the group’s Joanne Butcher called for a “far greater emphasis…on ethics in the industry’s journalism training and qualifications” at a November conference, Hold the Front Page reported. Butcher is quoted as saying:

“There is agreement across the industry that journalistic ethics matter a lot so that readers and audiences trust the information they are being given by the media.”