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Toronto Star Statement of Principles

Published on Wednesday April 13, 2011


The general principles that guide the Star’s journalistic integrity:

Click here to read the Toronto Star Newsroom Policy and Journalistic Standards Guide

Truth emerges from free discussion and free reporting. An informed public is essential to fostering and preserving Canada's democratic society.

Section 2 (b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees “freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication.”

With this right comes a responsibility for the media to be accurate, fair, honest and transparent. In its landmark 2009 decision on responsible communication in the public interest, Canada’s highest court asserts this principle: “Freedom does not negate responsibility. It is vital that the media act responsibly in reporting facts on matters of public concern, holding themselves to the highest journalistic standards.”

If the Toronto Star does not live up to this responsibility in everything it publishes — in the newspaper, on its websites and through social media — we undermine our credibility with the public. As the Star’s then-publisher Beland Honderich said in November 1972 on the occasion of the opening of the Star’s new offices at One Yonge St.: “The most valuable asset a newspaper can have is its reputation for telling the truth.”

The Star's basic aim as a news organization is to engage in the full and frank dissemination of news and opinion, and to do so working within the highest standards of journalistic integrity. In reporting news and opinion, the Star seeks to inform the public of the significant and interesting events of the day, with particular emphasis on politics and public affairs.

The Star operates according to the progressive values established by Joseph E. Atkinson, the Star’s legendary publisher from 1899 to 1948. These Atkinson principles are: A strong and united Canada, civic engagement, individual and civil liberties, a necessary role for effective government and the rights of working people.

Our core mission as defined by Atkinson is to focus public attention on injustices of all kinds and on reforms designed to correct them. “Humanity above all,” said Atkinson, who further set the tone of the “Paper for the People” with his advice for newsgathering — “Get the news first, sew it up so the opposition cannot get it, leave not a crumb or a tidbit uncollected, and play it big.”

Herewith are the general principles that guide the Star’s journalistic integrity:

RESPONSIBILITY

The Star has responsibilities to its readers, its shareholders, its employees and its advertisers. But the operation of a news organization is, above all, a public trust, no less binding because it is not formally conferred. Our overriding responsibility is to the democratic society.

Freedom of expression and of the press must be defended against encroachment from any quarter, public or private. Journalists must ensure that the public's business is conducted in public. They must be vigilant against all who would exploit the press for selfish purposes.

Journalists who abuse the power of their professional roles for selfish motives or unworthy purposes are faithless to that public trust.

ACCESS

The Star is a forum for the free interchange of information and opinion. It should provide for the expression of disparate and conflicting views. It should give expression to the interests of minorities as well as majorities, of the powerless as well as the powerful. The Star aims to present news and information in terms of people and its effect on people, so it can be read and understood in all sections of the community.

ACCURACY and TRUTH

Good faith with the reader is the foundation of ethical and excellent journalism. That good faith rests primarily on the reader's confidence that what we print is true. Every effort must be made to ensure that everything published in the Star is accurate, presented in context, and that all sides are presented fairly.

Journalistic integrity demands that significant errors of fact, as well as errors of omission, should be corrected promptly and as prominently and transparently as warranted.

FAIRNESS

The Star should respect the rights of people involved in the news, be decent in its conduct and stand accountable to the public for the fairness and reliability of everything it publishes. Persons publicly accused should be given the prompt opportunity to respond.

INDEPENDENCE

The Star believes in paying the costs incurred in gathering and publishing news. Conflicts of interest, and the appearance of conflicts of interest, should be avoided. Star journalists should neither accept anything nor pursue any activity that might compromise or seem to compromise their integrity or that of the newspaper. It is not appropriate for Star journalists to play the roles of both actor and critic.

IMPARTIALITY

To be impartial does not require a news organization to be unquestioning or to refrain from editorial expression. Sound practice, however, demands a clear distinction for readers between news and opinion. All content that contains explicit opinion or personal interpretation should be clearly identified as opinion or analysis, as appropriate.

PRIVACY

Every person has a right to privacy. There are inevitable conflicts between the right to privacy and the public good and the right to be informed about the conduct of public affairs. Each case should be judged in the light of common sense and humanity.


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