History
Sir David Bell, Chairman of the Financial Times, came up with the idea for the Media Standards Trust at a conference in the Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds in May 2003.
Bell was leading a discussion about the state of the news media with 50-60 people. Amongst those present were senior figures from the police, from medicine, from business, from law, and from the media. The discussion became heated. Many of those outside the media felt it had become enormously powerful but remained predominantly opaque and unaccountable. Those within the media felt those outside did not understand that news was going through a revolution, and that at the end of it all news organisations would have to be more transparent and accountable if they were to survive. Both agreed that in the midst of this revolution standards were deteriorating. Journalists, short of time and money, were being asked to turn around more stories, in less time, on more platforms. News was becoming more inaccurate as a result. They were coming to rely more heavily on press releases and public relations material. They did not have the resources to pursue investigations.
David Bell wanted to find out if these concerns were shared by others in the media, and by the public. With Julia Middleton (CEO, Common Purpose), Robert Peston (Business Editor, BBC) and Sir Cyril Chantler (Chair, Great Ormond St and The King's Fund), he spent the next two years discussing them. Jointly they spoke to well over 500 people. They not only found almost everyone they spoke to had similar concerns, but that, unlike in other countries, there was virtually no-one trying to do something about it (outside the news organisations themselves).
At the beginning of 2006 they formed a Board, composed of figures from the media and from civil society (see People). In May 2006 the Media Standards Trust gained charity status. The Trust's first director, Dr Martin Moore, was appointed at the end of June. In 2007, the Media Standards Trust launched Journalisted, partnered with Political Quarterly and the Orwell Trust to run the Orwell Prize, and hosted its first live news debate. In 2008, the Trust aims to develop the Transparency Initiative with Tim Berners-Lee and the WSRI, as well as running more live debates and growing its other projects.