Transparency is the principle that content should be produced in a way that allows the audience to evaluate the credibility of the work and determine for themselves whether it is trustworthy.
Producers must be open with the audience — to the extent practical — about how the work was done. Being transparent is the proof, in effect, that the editorial principles outlined in these standards are living principles that inform a professional and ethical editorial process — not simply words on a page. While specific methods may vary by circumstance and platform, transparency means respecting that the audience is entitled to understand significant underlying editorial decisions in order to preserve the public's trust. If producers arrive at a certain conclusion or a point of view, the audience should be able to evaluate how that conclusion or view was reached. Producers who face difficult editorial decisions should consider explaining why certain choices were made; if relevant questions cannot be answered, producers should endeavor to explain why.
Sources must be clearly identified, and, in those rare instances when confidential sources need to be used, producers must explain the decision to allow anonymity. Transparency also means using labels or other disclosures when presenting information that might be unclear or confusing to the audience. Finally, transparency requires that producers disclose to the audience all sources of funding for the production and distribution of content.
Application Examples
Guidance on how to put the principle of Transparency into practice:
Permit Anonymity Sparingly
Anonymous sources should only be used when granting anonymity is the only practical way to obtain important information of public interest. Anonymous sources must not, as a general rule, be used to provide opinion, speculation, or hearsay. They are best used when they offer information that can then be subsequently verified with on-the-record sources. Producers must receive approval from the program’s Executive Producer for each determination to grant anonymity as a significant executive-level decision, and these determinations may also need to be reviewed with PBS. Producers should be able to describe to the Executive Producer how the source knows the information, the source’s motivations, why anonymity would be required, and any other details that will help evaluate the source’s credibility. When using anonymous sources in published content, producers must explain to the audience why they are withholding the identity of the source and why the source is credible, in order to help the audience evaluate the source’s credibility.
RELATED > Anonymous Sources (Society of Professional Journalists Ethics Committee Position Paper)
Attribute Non-Original Materials
Audiences should be able to clearly understand the source of information. As digital technology makes it easier to share, generate, and redistribute content, producers must exercise care to never re-use someone else’s work and pass it off as their own. While not all materials incorporated within content distributed by PBS must always be labeled (e.g., stock footage, home movies, still images), producers should provide attribution at any point when doing so would help the audience better understand the material. Producers should make publicly available materials that document their sources whenever feasible. If content is later challenged or called into question, producers must be prepared to make responsive information available to PBS, such as annotated program transcripts.
Consider How Editorial Partnerships Impact PBS's Credibility
PBS and its producers may from time to time enter into editorial partnerships with other media organizations, educational or cultural institutions, freelance journalists, or other parties. While these collaborations are generally encouraged, producers and PBS staff should be mindful of the potential impact on PBS’s credibility, and they must ensure that all editorial partners adhere to these standards. Furthermore, all editorial partnerships must adhere to the PBS Co-Production Guidelines. The principle of transparency also requires that any such partnerships be clearly disclosed to the audience.
Use Labels and Other Disclosures to Aid Audience's Understanding
Producers must use labels and other visual or verbal disclosures to present information that allows the audience to better understand and make informed judgments about content. Producers should label content generated by technology when that context is material to understanding the content. Disclosures are also required to put the audience on notice about graphic images or language that they might wish to avoid.
Producers must identify for the audience in a clear and consistent manner material that is opinion or commentary, and communicate to the audience whose views are being presented. PBS considers opinion or commentary to be content that reflects a particular point of view or observations on a topic without presenting relevant contrasting facts and perspectives. To be fully transparent, the specific methods can vary based on the context, but transparent disclosures may include top-of-show language, lower-thirds, and narration. Opinion or commentary can be given great latitude with respect to personal and artistic expression so long as it is not inaccurate or defamatory. However, such content must never manipulate selected facts in order to propagandize.
Producers and PBS staff should use their discretion in determining how best to implement these disclosures while being mindful that they must be clear and concise to ensure that the audience can easily absorb the information to evaluate the credibility of the content for themselves.
RELATED > Opinion: NPR Needs Better Labeling of Opinion Content On Social Media from June 28, 2018 (NPR public editor)
Identify Re-Creations and Simulations
In instances where re-creations or simulations of actual events that did occur are necessary or desirable to inform the audience, they should be as accurate as possible and clearly identified (either through the use of verbal or text disclosures or made readily apparent through overt stylization techniques, such as the use of different colors or camera speeds) whenever there is a possibility that members of the audience could reasonably be confused or misled. These requirements also apply when working with any content generated by AI tools or services.
Apply Standards to Use of Generative AI and Other Emerging Technology
Producers should use these standards as a guide for any use of large language models and other generative AI tools to create content. The core principle of independence requires that producers serve the public by never abrogating their fundamental editorial role to an outside party, including an artificial intelligence. If considering the use of such tools, producers are responsible for discussing with PBS Programming and Standards & Practices how doing so would further the educational public service mission and align with the standards. Assessments on the use of generative AI will depend in part on the genre of the content. While these tools may advance the educational mission of PBS if used thoughtfully for some genres, they cannot replace journalism and may not be appropriate for use in news programming, except of course to cover the capabilities of such technologies.
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