ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the correlations of press freedom with editorial autonomy and professional accountability. Where editorial autonomy exists in the richest sense, two conditions are met: governments, businesses, and other powerful interests are impeded from interfering with news content and processes; and journalists’ choices are subject to peer-approved professional standards of public service. In Norway, where both these conditions are especially evident, the general public has historically demonstrated strong trust in journalists’ autonomy and maintain high levels of commitment to paying for news. Recent years have seen journalists and stakeholders in diverse democratic systems and cultures move closer toward a nascent global consensus on the profession’s foundational goals and values, but performative half-measures are easier than building muscular provisions for professional autonomy and accountability. Such accountability need not compromise pluralism across cultures, sectors, and viewpoints. Some elements contained in legal defences for defamation suggest a nascent global consensus on standards of “responsible journalism.”
