The Media Standards Trust is a British media

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...

formed in 2006. It carries out research on issues in the media sector. It also advocates for press freedom as well as industry quality, transparency and accountability. It is a registered charity and is not aligned with any political party or media company.

Activities

Media Standards Trust hosts debates about standards in the news media, conducts research into areas it considers of concern, hosts online projects, and formerly sponsored the Orwell Prize.

Projects

Journalisted.com

In 2007 the MST founded journalisted.com. The site has an archive of over four million news articles and a database of the work, biographical and contact information of several thousand

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

s. The site scrapes the news articles from several national and local publications, and sorts them according to

byline The byline (or by-line in British English) on a newspaper or magazine article gives the name of the writer of the article. Bylines are commonly placed between the headline and the text of the article, although some magazines (notably ''Reader's D ...

. The database is utilized by the MST for conducting research into matters relating to news coverage; a weekly newsletter is published summarizing contemporary trends in news. By December 2018 the site had been taken offline.

Hacked Off

In light of the June 2011 allegations of the ''

News of the World The ''News of the World'' was a weekly national Tabloid journalism#Red tops, red top Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling En ...

'' journalists phone hacking into the mobile phone voice mail of murder victim

Milly Dowler Milly is a feminine given name, sometimes used as a short form (hypocorism) of Mildred, Amelia, Emily, etc. It may refer to: People * Milly Alcock (born 2000), Australian actress * Milly Babalanda (born 1970), Ugandan politician * Milly Bern ...

, on 5 July 2011 in partnership with

Brian Cathcart Brian Cathcart (born 26 October 1956) is an Irish-born journalist, academic and media campaigner based in the United Kingdom. He is professor of journalism at Kingston University London and in 2011 was a founder of Hacked Off, which campaigns for ...

and other concerned individuals, MST formed the "Hacked Off" campaign, registering the site hackinginquiry.org, and campaigning for a

public inquiry A tribunal of inquiry is an official review of events or actions ordered by a government body. In many common law countries, such as the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, Australia and Canada, such a public inquiry differs from a royal ...

into phone hacking. The campaign was directly supported by Norman Fowler,

Onora O'Neill Onora Sylvia O'Neill, Baroness O'Neill of Bengarve (born 23 August 1941) is a British philosopher and a crossbench member of the House of Lords. Early life and education Onora Sylvia O'Neill was born on 23 August 1941 in Aughafatten. The dau ...

Francis Wheen Francis James Baird Wheen (born 22 January 1957) is a British journalist, writer and broadcaster. Early life and education Wheen was born into an army familyNicholas Wro"A life in writing" ''The Guardian'', 29 August 2009 and educated at two ind ...

, Tom Watson MP, Ben Goldacre, Baroness Helena Kennedy, Sir David Bell, D. D. Guttenplan, Roy Greenslade,

Ian Hargreaves Ian Richard Hargreaves CBE (born 18 June 1951 in Burnley) is Professor Emeritus (formerly Prof Digital Economy) at Cardiff University, Wales, UK. Career His career in British journalism includes several beats at the ''Financial Times'', as well a ...

John Lloyd John Lloyd may refer to: Artists, writers, and entertainers *John J. Lloyd (1922–2014), American art director and production designer *John Lloyd (graphic designer) (born 1944), co-founder of design consultancy Lloyd Northover *John Lloyd (journa ...

, Isabel Hilton, Ian Jack, John Pilger, John Prescott, Richard Peppiatt, Andreas Whittam Smith, J. K. Rowling, and others. Actor Hugh Grant supported the campaign and became a public spokesperson, appearing on the

BBC television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...

programmes '' Question Time'' and '' Newsnight''. The campaign was criticised by Lewis Page in '' The Register'', who described it as a "secretive pressure group ... of wealthy and powerful individuals and celebrities ... which has successfully campaigned for state control of the media". In 2012, Hacked Off became independent of the Media Standards Trust. Hacked Off produces a magazine, ''Free & Fearless''.

Funding

Foundations which have contributed to the Media Standards Trust include Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust,

John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private foundation that makes grants and impact investments to support non-profit organizations in approximately 50 countries around the world. It has an endowment of $7.0 billion and p ...

Nuffield Foundation The Nuffield Foundation is a charitable trust established in 1943 by William Morris, Lord Nuffield, the founder of Morris Motors Ltd. It aims to improve social well-being by funding research and innovation projects in education and social pol ...

, Eranda Foundation, and Scott Trust Limited. Individuals who have contributed to the Trust include Christopher Stone and Robert Worcester.

People

the director of the Media Standards Trust was Martin Moore. The Joint Executive Directors of Hacked Off are Evan Harris and Daisy Cooper. The Board of Trustees has included: * Sir David Bell (former Chairman, Financial Times Group) — resigned when he was appointed to

Leveson Inquiry The Leveson Inquiry was a judicial public inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the British press following the News International phone hacking scandal, chaired by Lord Justice Leveson, who was appointed in July 2011. A series of ...

Julia Middleton Julia Mary Middleton (' Morland; 21 April 1958) is the founder oWomen Emergingin the UK. She is also the founder and former chief executive officer of Common Purpose, an international charity that runs leadership development programmes. She i ...

(CEO,

Common Purpose UK Common Purpose is a British-founded charity that runs leadership-development programmes around the world. Common Purpose UK is a subsidiary of Common Purpose. Founded in 1989 by Julia Middleton, its aim is to develop leaders who cross bounda ...

) * Sir Cyril Chantler (Chairman,

King's Fund The King's Fund is an independent think tank, which is involved with work relating to the health system in England. It organises conferences and other events. Since 1997, they have jointly funded a yearly award system with GlaxoSmithKline. Th ...

) * Sir Robert Worcester (Founder, MORI) * Tim Waterstone (Founder of Waterstones bookstores and Daisy & Tom children's department stores) * Robert Peston (Business Editor, BBC) — resigned in July 2012 * William Davies ( Goldsmiths College, London) *

Roger Graef Roger Arthur Graef OBE (18 April 1936 – 2 March 2022) was an American-born British documentary filmmaker and theatre director. Born in New York City, he moved to Britain in 1962, where he began a career producing documentary films investiga ...

(Films of Record) * Baroness Helena Kennedy QC * John McCormick (

Scottish Qualifications Authority The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA; Gaelic: ''Ùghdarras Theisteanas na h-Alba'') is the executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government responsible for accrediting educational awards. It is partly funded by the Ed ...

) *

Stephen George Platten Stephen George PlattenFSA(born 17 May 1947, in Southgate) is a retired Anglican bishop. He was the last diocesan Bishop of Wakefield in the Church of England. He was consecrated in this role on 19 July 2003 and immediately prior to that was Dean ...

(Bishop of Wakefield) *

Geraint Talfan Davies Geraint Talfan Davies OBE DL (born 30 December 1943) is a Welsh journalist and broadcaster, and a long-serving trustee and chairman of many Welsh civic, arts, media and cultural organisations. Personal life and education Geraint Talfan Davies ...

(Chair, Institute of Welsh Affairs) *

Anthony Salz Sir Anthony Michael Vaughan Salz (born 30 June 1950) is a British solicitor. He sat on the Board of Governors of the BBC from 1 August 2004, after the resignation of the former Vice Chairman, Lord Ryder, and was Acting Chairman in 2006 following ...

(Executive Vice Chairman,

N M Rothschild & Sons Rothschild & Co is a multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company, and the flagship of the Rothschild banking group controlled by the French and British branches of the Rothschild family. The banking business o ...

) * Sue Stapely (Quiller Consultants/Sue Stapely Consulting) *

Amelia Fawcett Dame Amelia Chilcott Fawcett (born 16 September 1956) is an American-British business executive who is currently Chairman of Kinnevik AB ( Stockholm) and Lead Director of State Street Corporation ( Boston, Massachusetts). Fawcett is the Chairm ...

(Vice Chairman, Morgan Stanley) — resigned in July 2012 * Albert Scardino (journalist, editor) * Sir

Philip Otton Sir Philip Howard Otton (born 28 May 1933), styled The Rt Hon Sir Philip Otton, is a former Lord Justice of Appeal (1995–2001). Career Otton was educated at the University of Birmingham (LLB). In 1983, he was approved as a High Court Judge and ...

(retired judge)

References

External links

*
Media Standards Trust
channel on YouTube
Journalisted.comHacked Off
{{2011–12 News Corporation scandal Political and economic think tanks based in the United Kingdom Charities based in London Journalism ethics Think tanks established in 2006