The Trust Project and perceptions of transparency in three prominent newsrooms in Brazil

Abstract

In this article, we show how three Brazilian reference vehicles implement journalistic transparency actions. Folha de S. Paulo, O Povo and Poder 360 are online newspapers that joined the Trust Project/Projeto Credibilidade, an international consortium that discusses, trains and encourages good transparency practices, considering that this involvement contributes to increasing trust in journalism. The vehicles that adhere to the Trust Project follow eight indicators that work as graphic markers along with journalistic content and that lead to the adoption of new procedures for greater openness in professional practice. As a complement to the multiple case study, eight subjects were interviewed, being two leaders of the Trust Project in Brazil and six journalists from the news outlets studied. The results allowed us to conclude that the transparency perceived in these newsrooms is still limited, and that the disclosure of internal processes and journalistic routines depends on technological, business and cultural factors, among others.