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A majority of the public believes the media can’t be trusted.

Which global news sites are most transparent about their operations? Not necessarily the ones you would think….

Openness & Accountability: A Study of Transparency in Global Media Outlets

Main Results

Study Conclusions

Understanding Results

Why Transparency?

Study Methodology

Authors

The study used five categories to evaluate the news outlets:

Corrections: Willingness to openly correct mistakes.

Ownership: Openness about corporate ownership.

Staff Policies: Openness about conflicts of interest.

Reporting Policies: Openness about editorial guidelines.

Interactivity: Openness to reader comments and criticism.

	Excellent
	Very Good
	Average
	Poor
	Not Acceptable

	Overall Score	Corrections	Ownership	Staff Policies	Reporting Policies	Interactivity
13. CNN	1

Ranking: Poor.
Details of Findings:
	There is contact information for a corrections editor and no corrections page. Even doing a search on the web site does not bring up corrections.
	The owner information can be found, but it is difficult to find. It takes more than two clicks or is linked to or from an obscure address. Site’s pages may be copyrighted to an owner, but no information about the owner is linked.
	There is no information provided through the web site or outside web sites.
	No News Values anywhere on the web site or through the Google search.
	The outlet did not have an ombudsman. A link is provided to send and view letters to the editor. The outlet does not list any specific email addresses of reporters. Blogs by reporters were available. No live chats were available on the site. The site had a page for general comments, but not comments for individual stories.
(Hadass Kogan)

About CNN

Circulation/Audience

7pm. Wed March 14: Wolf Blitzer: 197

Online Access

No log-in needed.

Parent Company

The Times Warner Company

Other Relevant Ownership and Interests

-AOL
-Time Inc.
-Turner Broadcasting
-HBO
-New Line Cinema
-Warner Bros

Parent Company Revenue

$44 Billion for 2006

A center of the Philip Merrill College of Journalism and the School of Public Policy. Copyright © 2006 International Center for Media and the Public Agenda. 1117 Journalism Building, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742