ANSI encourages relevant stakeholders to review and comment on a draft proposal by October 12, 2026, for a new International Organization for Standardization (ISO) International Workshop Agreement (IWA) on the Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI).
AFNOR (the ISO member for France) has submitted the proposal, to be co-led with Reporters Without Borders. The IWA would carry forward CEN Workshop Agreement (CWA) 17493:2019, Journalism Trust Initiative, at the international level. The CWA provides a certifiable framework that news organizations can use to demonstrate the quality and integrity of their editorial processes. With the CWA now expired, the proposers aim to maintain continuity of the framework, preserve the consensus achieved through the CEN process, and broaden global participation.
The IWA would provide verifiable and comparable best practices that promote ethical principles, professional methodologies, editorial independence, transparency, and accountability, while respecting the principle of media self-regulation. It is intended to help news providers improve their internal processes and to help audiences, platforms, regulators, and partners identify reliable sources of information.
The document would apply to news media organizations (print, broadcast, and digital), independent journalists, digital-native media, and news content creators. AFNOR has offered to serve as secretariat for the IWA.
Relevant stakeholders are invited to review this document and send comments to Sara Desautels, ANSI senior director, international policy ([email protected]), by close of business on October 12, 2026. Because the approval process for IWAs resides at the ISO Technical Management Board (TMB) level and does not go out to the full ISO membership for a 12-week ballot, this will be the only opportunity for review and input. All input that ANSI receives will be used to develop the ANSI representative input to the ISO TMB.
What is an IWA?
To respond to urgent market needs, ISO develops IWAs through a workshop mechanism outside its committee structures, following a procedure designed to give the broadest range of interested parties worldwide the opportunity to participate. IWAs are approved by consensus among individual workshop participants. An IWA is reviewed three years after publication and may be further developed into a Publicly Available Specification, Technical Specification, or International Standard. An IWA can exist for a maximum of six years, after which it is either withdrawn or converted into another ISO document.