Assessment of Journalism Principles in Media: An Evaluative Instrument

Abstract

ABSTRACT The integration of emerging technologies in journalism raises concerns about their impact on journalistic principles. During these technologies’ early adoption stages, there is significant experimentation with platform affordances to apply these principles in new media contexts. Current evaluations struggle to be universally applicable due to their focus on specific media platforms and contexts. To address this gap, this article introduces the Assessment of Journalism Principles in Media (AJPM) rubric, a tool that operationalizes and empirically evaluates normative journalistic principles across media technologies. The tool offers a framework for examining and comparing how different media platforms’ affordances are aligning and impacting the implementation and perception of journalistic principles. Developed using the Questionnaire Appraisal System (QAS-99), the AJPM was refined through feedback from 17 news editors and journalists from the United States, who evaluated a tool that operationalizes 21 terms from the Oxford Dictionary of Journalism. This process established content validity of the AJPM. These evaluations are crucial in validating the AJPM's effectiveness for evolving journalistic forms such as immersive journalism and AI in journalism. Future research will establish the AJPM's face, criterion, and construct validity, thereby confirming its utility in assessing journalistic principles in diverse media forms, from traditional to emerging.