API Inclusion Index accountability rubric

Invisibility – Zero accountability. News organizations refuse to acknowledge any harms to traditionally marginalized communities caused by the organization’s coverage, engagement practices or internal practices. Critiques made by community members or employees are ignored or dismissed. There is zero interest in practicing accountability.

Token – Token accountability. News organizations acknowledge problems either internally or externally only after significant public failures. They will issue an apology and may set up staff training. No major changes were made following the failure, and the issue is quietly and repeatedly set aside. Other systemic issues are not made public, acknowledged or addressed.

Mediocre – Reactive accountability. News organizations will deal with internal and external systemic issues with some degree of seriousness. However, the outlet will lack any structured way of dealing with internal issues outside of human resources and likely have no structure beyond a leadership or management team for external issues. If the issue is not public, it will likely not be discussed in public. Offenders and managers will be held accountable. The news organization will assess the causes of the issue and seek help in assessment if they deem it necessary, but may not prioritize this. Training sessions around issues and some structural changes may happen. Any problems not deemed clear issues will be ignored or dealt with in a token manner. Progress on systemic issues may stall due to a lack of long-term infrastructure.

Above average – Semi-structured accountability. News organizations routinely deal with systemic issues and have some infrastructure built for doing so regularly. There is a mixture of internal and external boards that help assess DEIB issues. Outlets will deal honestly, though not routinely, with challenges in public. Outlets hold offenders accountable, will discuss some situations publicly and seek assistance for assessments of its activities whenever issues arise. A small list of items is evaluated regularly, although more could be done. Structural changes will often stem from evaluations of deficiencies.

Thriving – Structured public-facing accountability. News organizations have complete systems for dealing with both internal and external issues, and community members are involved in decision-making processes. There is an ombudsman or public editor dedicated to addressing issues routinely. Actions against offenders are swift and made public. Infrastructure is built around accountability, and routine assessments by outside reviewers are documented. The news organizations publicly and routinely discusses processes and decisions with their community.