It’s been a bad week for journalism. And three stories reveal the extreme pressure the news business is now under. Allegations that the London Evening Standard struck a deal to provide favourable news coverage to companies in exchange for large sums of money – claims it strenuously denies – raise important questions about the opacity of “native” advertising in the media. In Ukraine, the faked murder of Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko, with the professed aim of catching a real killer, prompted concerns about the damage that may have been done to campaigns combating the real threat of murder that journalists face. And finally the claims that far-right former EDL leader Tommy Robinson, jailed for contempt of court, was simply a journalist exercising his right to free speech muddied the waters in the debate about press freedom.

The public must wonder who – or what – to trust.

The importance of accurate and ethical journalism has never been greater, which is what makes The Conversation so important: we don’t carry any advertising, come with no agenda, commercial, political or otherwise. Our mission is to cut through “fake news”, with articles written by people with a deep knowledge of their subject. As ever, we can’t do this without the support of our readers, authors and members. We’re doing things differently and, with these principles, we’re optimistic about the future.

Football fans around the globe are counting down until the World Cup in less than a fortnight, dusting off their team shirts and national flags. Any England fans out there will tell you that pride almost invariably comes before an early departure – and, in any case, it’s one of the seven deadly sins. But, despite not making it to the finals, the Italians have come up with the concept of fiero – a sort of pride you don’t have to be ashamed of.

In Spain, Mariano Rajoy gets a longer than usual lie-in this weekend, having just lost the prime ministership after finally being felled by accusations of corruption that have dogged his party for some time. But new prime minister Pedro Sánchez now has to accept the poison chalice that is the Basque and Catalan independence movements.

Have a great weekend.

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