The Center for Integrity in News Reporting (CFINR) is on a mission to get every news organization and journalism school in America to write, adopt and prominently display a clear set of core values. Executive Director Rufus Friday said the effort is rooted in one simple idea: transparency builds trust. “We feel like transparency is going to be one of the recipes for bringing individuals back to a news media organization's site or newspaper or cable show if they can just display their values,” he said.
CFINR founder Walter Hussman, longtime publisher of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and past chairman of WEHCO Media, believes this openness is essential to restoring faith in the press. “The mission is how do we rebuild the public trust in news reporting in America — and I’m talking about news reporting, not opinion,” he said. “Opinion is important, but this is about reporting impartially, fairly and objectively.”
Starting with America’s mid-sized markets
Hussman and Friday have decided to launch the initiative in U.S. markets ranked 25 through 75 before moving nationwide. “These mid-sized markets, they’re the heart of American journalism,” Friday said. “They’re big enough to influence regional discourse, but they’re small enough to maintain that deep connection with their communities.”
Hussman agrees that these markets hold unique potential. “You can have a stronger connection with the community, and you can still maintain a real trust advantage over the national media,” he said. “If we can demonstrate the benefits of clear core values in these communities first, it'll make the case for taking it everywhere.”
Why core values matter
Friday frames the work as both strategic and symbolic. “There is no significant budget constraint for doing this,” he said. “It’s not that hard… we’ve had some entities already develop statements of core values. I’m more than happy to share those with them.”
Hussman believes that public, written commitments can move the trust needle. “If news organizations had a stronger reputation for being impartial, they’d get more paid subscribers,” he said. “People need to know, in writing, what you stand for — and then see you live up to it.”
From principle to recognition
CFINR isn't only advocating for values; it’s rewarding the reporters who live them. The organization’s journalism awards honor impartiality, fairness and objectivity — an idea Hussman said grew from conversations with respected industry leaders like Marty Baron. “The first thing you should do is recognize and reward people who are reporting impartially, fairly and objectively,” he recalled being told.
With help from Princeton professor Robert George, Hussman launched the first awards ceremony at the Library of Congress with Brett Baier as keynote speaker. “You’re not going to get much impact by just picking up the phone and telling somebody they won an award,” Hussman said. “You need to do it at an impressive place, with a great audience, so the honorees know the significance of what they’ve done.”
Encouraging signs from the industry
Hussman has found support in some of the industry’s most influential offices. “I’ve been able to get into the offices of the top news people like A.G. Sulzberger at The New York Times, Will Lewis and Matt Murray at The Washington Post… and they all like what we’re doing,” he said. “I think they feel as if their news organizations had a stronger reputation for being impartial, they’d get more paid subscribers.”
Friday said those endorsements send a strong signal. “This is a collective responsibility,” he said. “If the people leading these organizations support the values, then it becomes easier to embed them across the newsroom.”
Hussman points to one example from The Washington Post that confirmed his belief in visible recognition. “I didn’t want money. I wanted a full page in The Washington Post the next day to recognize reporters who reported impartially, fairly and objectively — and they did it.”
Building participation and support
The awards’ second year drew entries from major outlets that had not participated before, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, CBS, NBC, The Guardian’s U.S. edition and BBC America. “To me, that’s really encouraging,” Hussman said. “They're competing to be impartial, objective and fair.”
Financial backing for CFINR’s work is also growing. “In 2024, my wife and I had to put in most of the money to get this thing off the ground,” Hussman said. “In 2025, we’re probably going to collect over $2 million in donations, and over two-thirds of that will not be from our family… This is resonating with people, and they want to support it.”
Hussman said one donor’s gesture was especially motivating. “One of the people who attended our first dinner decided they were going to pay for all the awards and the dinner for 2025, and they’ve already sent us a check to cover next year as well,” he said. “That’s an encouraging moment.”
A call to action
Friday’s appeal to publishers and journalism educators is direct. “First and foremost, they can reach out to our site or me directly,” he said. “We feel like transparency is going to be one of the recipes for bringing individuals back… if they can just display their values.”
For Hussman, the progress so far shows the mission is gaining momentum. “This is resonating with people, and they want to support it,” he said. “If we can get more organizations to write, adopt and display their core values, we’ll start to see real improvement in public trust in journalism.”
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