Although the corona virus pandemic destabilized the entire planet and was the cause of various crises, it brought positive changes in one segment. Namely, according to many surveys conducted over the past two years, it has been shown that the public's trust in credible media is on the rise.
This is the case in all 46 countries, which were part of this year's Digital News Report of the Reuters Institute. There are many reasons for these positive changes, and one of the main ones is - for sure - the fact that people read more news during the pandemic.
Geographical differences
The number of people in the United Kingdom who trust the media has grown from 28 to 36 percent in a year. The situation is similar with the remaining 45 countries that were part of the research by the Reuters Institute. However, trust in the media is still low in America. Only 29 percent of Americans say they trust "most media most of the time."
This is perhaps not so surprising when considering the political situation in America, because political divisions greatly affect trust in the media. Research shows that only 16 percent of right-wingers trust the media, while more than half of leftists agree.
Governments around the world have turned against the press and media and this is one of the biggest reasons for the decline in trust. Examples can be seen in Britain, where the conservative government comes into conflict with the BBC, as well as in the actions of Beijing, which practically closed all pro-democracy media in Hong Kong.
It's time to rebuild
From politically motivated insults and fake news to the proliferation of misinformation peddled by dubious media actors, unreliable information is more visible and prominent than ever.
That's why rebuilding trust in the media is a difficult task, especially considering the divisions and controversies going on in journalism schools and newsrooms around the world.
Some believe that the most important thing is to rely on the facts, and others that it's all about transparency. According to the Digital News Report, 66 percent of respondents want their media to remain neutral, and 74 percent believe that reporting should highlight a variety of viewpoints rather than take a particular stance. A significant minority, 24 percent, want what they see as the "facade of neutrality" to be dropped, believing that there is news where "there is no point in being neutral."
The INMA report, "How publishers are rebuilding trust", suggests that public opinion polling data points to the possibility of rebuilding trust, but that an urgent response is necessary. The author of this report is Sally Lerman, founder of The Trust, an international consortium of news organizations that builds transparency standards and promotes accurate, inclusive and fair journalism.
Lerman believes the pandemic has alerted people to the value of accurate news and their personal role in making choices. She believes that the newspaper industry must connect even more deeply with the principles of social responsibility and become an ally of trusted people, and that it must do so not only for philosophical reasons, but also for its own survival.
The need for ethical journalism to survive is more than just an existential cry. Namely, a parallel can be drawn directly between trust and monetization. Studies conducted in the USA, which study how age affects the monitoring of media content, show that older readers remain loyal to the brand, i.e. a certain media company, while younger readers are more interested in accuracy and transparency and are not tied to one particular media.
68 percent of respondents aged 18 to 35 believe that the media is crucial for democracy, and only 32 percent agree that the name/brand of the media is important. Consequently, it is highly likely that most respondents, when they are unsure about the information they read in certain media, will look to other sources or independent sites to verify it.
Thus, the young audience has proven to be a discerning consumer of information, and that is why publishers who cannot prove their reliability, the origin of their content and the process through which it is created, will face a great difficulty in connecting with the future audience.
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