Values

the principles and ethics that guide your journalism

Values are the principles and ethics that guide a newsroom's journalism: the lines it will not cross and the standards it holds. For a media organization, values show up most clearly in hard calls, not in calm times. A team might pause here to name what they actually stand by, not just what sounds good.

Questions to explore

// use these as prompts in a workshop or on your own. There are no right answers.

Which principles guide us when a story puts them under pressure?
Where have our stated values and our actual decisions pulled apart?
How do new staff learn what we stand for?
What would we refuse to do for a story, even a big one?
How might our values shape where and how we are willing to use AI?

Things to consider

Values matter most at the moment they cost you something.
Principles that are never written down are hard to hold each other to.
New tools raise old questions, so it helps to know your lines in advance.

using this card

Pull Values when it is relevant and set it aside when it is not. Pair it with the other Organisation cards, lay them out on a table, and use the questions above to get everyone on the same page. Capture what you discuss on sticky notes or in a shared doc.