RSF welcomes validation of Africa's first media certifier
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (PANA) - Côte d'Ivoire's Bureau Normale Audit (BNA) has become the first African certifier of media that have signed up to the Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI) standard, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) announced on Monday.
"This is a major step forward in the development of the Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI) in Africa. Côte d'Ivoire's Bureau Normale Audit (BNA) has been validated by the West African Accreditation System to certify African media (SOAC) according to the Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI) standards", wrote RSF in a press release.
The JTI has been deployed in Africa since 2021. Following the example of Studio Kalangou in Niger, which was the first to receive JTI certification, more than 300 media outlets across the continent have committed to the process.
"The emergence of a certifier for Africa reinforces the development of JTI on the continent, the territory where it meets with the most commitment from the media. We welcome this favourable deployment for the promotion of reliable journalism. The JTI team is keen to hear from media wishing to join the process," said Christophe Deloire, Secretary General of RSF.
Several elements are verified during the certification audit, according to the JTI standards: the identity of the media, their owners and management team, their editorial mission, the location and contact details of the editorial staff.
Professionalism, in particular, compliance with ethical rules, and responsibility are also examined. The JTI team provides grants to support the implementation of these different areas, depending on the resources available.
"BNA is honoured to become the first African media certifier and is committed to carrying it out rigorously and covering the whole region. The JTI's objective of raising transparency in journalism aligns with BNA's mission of building trust in services in Africa through certification," said Olga Kouassi, BNA's Managing Director.
To accredit media certifiers, SOAC uses two standards: ISO/IEC 17065:2012 "Conformity assessment - Requirements for bodies certifying products, processes and services"; and the JTI standard, itself approved by the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) under a workshop agreement entitled CEN - CWA 17493:2019, "Journalism Trust Initiative" for journalistic content distributed by the media.
"By opting for accreditation to validate the competence of media certifiers, RSF has made the wise choice of aligning itself with international best practice," says Marcel Gbaguidi, resident representative in Côte d'Ivoire and director general of SOAC.
-0- PANA TNDD/IS/BBA/RA 12June2023
