Preamble
The audio sector is subject to the same fundamental principles as all other journalism and communications formats and platforms. These include the importance of accuracy, seeking the truth, impartiality and balance, duty of care and minimising harm, independence, safety, and diversity in coverage.
The editorial charter is at the heart of the platform’s commitment to maintaining high standards of content quality. By agreeing to these principles, users will help create a platform that is not only commercially successful but also aligned with European values of diversity, inclusion, and media integrity.
These rules apply equally to both content sellers and buyers on the platform.
Sellers are required to ensure that the content they provide is accurate, authentic, inclusive, and compliant with the platform’s standards.
Buyers, on the other hand, are expected to use the content responsibly, adhering to the same ethical guidelines, particularly regarding its dissemination, contextualization, and reuse.
This commitment ensures that audio content consumers can trust the materials they access, whether it's for education, journalism, entertainment, or creative projects.
Both parties are bound by these rules to maintain the integrity of the platform, fostering a collaborative environment that prioritizes transparency, accountability, and mutual respect.
Accuracy and seeking the truth
Providers will be responsible for ensuring the accuracy of their content, including any quotes, data, or external materials used. They will be required to source all content clearly and respect intellectual property rights.
Audio content providers must be fully committed to providing accurate information to our listeners. This means using information from trusted, reliable and identified sources; only using anonymous sources in exceptional circumstances and based on strict criteria such as:
- Necessity: Anonymous sources should only be used when the information is essential and cannot be obtained by other means. The story must have significant public interest or impact.
- Credibility: The source must be credible, reliable, and have a proven track record of providing accurate information. Efforts should be made to independently verify the claims.
- Verification: Wherever possible, the information provided by an anonymous source must be corroborated with evidence or confirmed by additional sources.
- Motivation: Assess the source’s motivation for remaining anonymous. Ensure they are not acting out of personal or malicious intent that could compromise the story’s integrity.
- Transparency: Disclose to the audience as much context as possible about the source’s role or position (without revealing their identity) to help readers or viewers assess the credibility of the information.
- Editorial Oversight: The decision to grant anonymity should be approved by senior editors and justified in writing to ensure accountability.
Providers must also ensure that information obtained from social media is from authentic and verified accounts, don’t spread hearsay or rumours. They should never reproduce or quote other people's work or content without attribution. In other words, they must not plagiarise.
Content providers, including podcasters, must have a thorough knowledge of the facts and background when conducting interviews so that they can challenge, and correct falsehoods or factual errors made by interviewees. Programming will include speakers and sources with controversial or provocative viewpoints, but these viewpoints must be based on verifiable facts. If they are not, they must be challenged and corrected. Content providers should not give an unchallenged platform to falsehoods and conspiracy theories.
Impartiality, Balance, Fairness and Accountability
When presenting news audio content, the providers must be impartial and factual and provide content with verified information that will allow them to make informed opinions about events affecting their lives. They should never be selective in the facts they present; they should not favour one side over another; and they should be rigorous in seeking out people who deserve the right of reply.
They must faithfully represent what people intended to say, never misrepresent what they said, use statements out of context, or edit recorded speech to alter the intended meaning.
They should strive to provide balanced coverage, which means giving equal time to speakers on the different sides of an argument. But they also have a responsibility to ensure that the speakers are qualified to talk about the topic being discussed and should not give a platform to those promoting discredited theories, such as pseudo-scientific climate change denial. This is known as false balance.
Buyers, on the other hand, are also expected to handle acquired content with fairness and balance. They should avoid manipulating or selectively editing content in a way that misrepresents its original context or intent. Buyers must ensure that any reuse of content aligns with its original purpose and does not distort its impartiality or fairness.
TAM providers will have to correct any misinformation, with an open and honest corrections policy, ensuring the platform remains credible.
If an error is confirmed, providers will be required to correct or amend the content promptly.
Independence
Content providers must act independently of political, commercial or other influences. They must be transparent about sponsorship they receive; make a clear separation in broadcasts between editorial content and advertising content; and must be transparent about any political or other affiliations they have that listeners may consider as influencing their work. If using audio from external sources, such as government press releases or corporate materials, providers will have to critically assess these materials to avoid being used as a platform for corporate or political agendas, and of course remain transparent about the origin of those documents. It means no mention of products and brands, not directly connected to the content. Same applies to political campaigns.
TAM is dedicated to maintaining editorial independence, transparency, and impartiality, while also recognizing the potential role of sponsored content providers under strict conditions. To uphold these values, the platform permits providers with sponsorships, provided they are fully transparent about their funding sources and ensure that the sponsorship does not compromise the integrity or neutrality of the content.
Sponsored content, defined as material influenced or funded by commercial, political, or ideological entities, will only be accepted if it adheres to the platform’s editorial principles. Providers must ensure that their sponsorship does not dictate the narrative, introduce bias, or undermine the trustworthiness of the audio content.
TAM requires providers to explicitly declare any sponsorships, affiliations, or funding sources during the registration process and to include this information in the metadata accompanying their content. This ensures that audiences are aware of any potential influences on the material.
This policy balances the inclusion of sponsored providers with the platform’s commitment to unbiased, fact-based audio materials.
By enforcing transparency and neutrality, TAM continues to serve as a reliable, ethical, and inclusive marketplace for audio content across Europe.
News and Opinion
Users must make a distinction between news production, which should be impartial, balanced and fair; and opinion, which can reflect the speakers' views and come down firmly on one side of an argument.
Such content must be clearly distinguished from news and factual reporting to maintain transparency and credibility. All opinion pieces must be explicitly labelled to ensure audiences understand that the content reflects the views of the speaker or organization and not necessarily those of the platform. The platform will put measures in place so that these labels appear clearly for customers.
Informed consent
Before interviewing people, the content creators should provide them with the information necessary for them to decide whether they wish to participate, which is called informed consent.
This includes being transparent about for whom one is working and how the content will be used; if it will be broadcast live, recorded, or edited; which other individuals may be appearing in the programme or podcast; in the case of a panel discussion, who else has been invited to speak; any potential harm they may face, such as harassment on social media; and if their words will be published as part of a transcription of the broadcast. This is particularly important for private individuals who have no experience of speaking to the media.
Subterfuge, Secret Recordings and Duty of Care
In exceptional circumstances, content providers may use subterfuge and secret recordings if the material they may obtain is in the public interest and cannot be obtained through transparent means. For example, subterfuge can be justified if acting in the public interest and exposing wrongdoing, such as carrying out an investigative report into human trafficking. One may also broadcast secretly recorded third-party material if it is in the public interest, such as leaked recordings of meetings or phone conversations, as long one can be 100 percent sure of its authenticity.
Content providers have a duty of care towards the people they cover, and also a duty to minimise harm. This means that they have the final responsibility when it comes to broadcasting content that may be harmful or expose people to ridicule, harassment, legal action or physical danger.
Hate Speech and other Harmful Content
Hate speech can be defined as language that advocates, promotes, incites or encourages violence, discrimination, or other forms of hostility against individuals or groups because of their race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, or other characteristics. Ethically, the content providers have a duty of care and to minimise harm against vulnerable members of society and should not give a platform to speech that could put them at risk. They are under no obligation for example to report hate speech by private individuals, such as demonstrators at an anti-immigrant rally. However, if the speaker is a public figure, for example a politician campaigning in an election, that presents a different set of challenges. It is in the public interest to broadcast the remarks, but they should be fact-checked in real time, and should be framed with reactions from the concerned parties and those with opposing views.
Providers must provide warnings for potentially disturbing material and ensure it is presented within a proper context. Explicit material should be included only when necessary to inform or educate and must respect privacy and the dignity of those