Strategies for Building Trust in News: What the Public Say They Want Across Four Countries

"...there is no silver bullet to solve the problem of declining trust in news."



This study was conducted as part of the Reuters Institute Trust in News Project, which seeks to understand what drives trust for audiences in different contexts and to identify evidence-based recommendations for publishers and platforms. Based on surveys undertaken in four countries at the centre of the Trust in News Project - Brazil, India, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States (US) - this study explores how media outlets can react to declining levels of trust and the varying perceptions in the different countries to these proposed approaches. It is the last of a series of studies on trust produced by the project (see Related Summaries below for other study reports).  



The study looks in particular at public perceptions around trust in each country as they relate to four different kinds of trust-building strategies that some newsrooms have embraced. They are:

1. Building trust through aligning editorial content to what the public cares most about - Involves better aligning of topics covered and subjects of news stories to what the public say they want from trusted news outlets.
2. Building trust through transparency initiatives - Focuses on communicating ethical standards and newsroom policies while lessening conflicts of interest and bias.
3. Building trust through focusing on management, ownership, and staffing - Involves ensuring journalistic independence and ownership structures that reduce public scepticism and improving diversity amongst newsroom staff.
4. Building trust through deeper engagement with the public - Involves taking steps to ensure the public feels heard, involving them in the production of news, and responding to their feedback.

To offer context, the report begins by presenting the larger landscape of trust in news across the four countries by examining differences in terms of how the public evaluates trust in news in general, and then more specifically what people say they want news organisations to prioritise when it comes to gaining or regaining their own trust. This examination is followed by detailed discussions of attitudes about each of the four trust-building approaches outlined above.



Overall, the research found that while there were some commonalities between countries on expectations of news outlets, such as fair, accurate, and impartial news, at the same time, disparities exist between audiences on what may increase or undermine trust. The following is a brief synopsis of the key takeaways emerging from the study (in some instances pointing to a way forward), as highlighted in the report:  

 

• The least trusting towards news also tend to see "no differences" between news outlets. While levels of trust in news overall have declined in all four countries, it is often lowest among the subset of the public who use news the least frequently, reflecting the degree to which trust is often linked to habitual use of news. Those who access news most frequently, regardless of mode, are also most likely to see at least minor differences between news organisations in their trustworthiness. In contrast, a small but significant subset of the public in all four countries do not differentiate between most news outlets in terms of their trustworthiness. These groups also tend to be the most sceptical of trust-building initiatives, underscoring the importance of communicating distinct brand identities.
• Minimal consensus exists around what trust-building strategies news organisations ought to prioritise. When asked to choose among the approaches news outlets might embrace to gain or regain their trust, different groups in each country say they would be most receptive to different initiatives. On the one hand, this findings suggests all four approaches hold promise for building trust with at least some of the public. On the other hand, it is less obvious how news organisations ought to proceed. These findings point to the importance of tailoring strategies to specific audience preferences and needs, rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach.
• The already trusting are generally most receptive to trust-building efforts. While the public generally say they look favourably towards many initiatives designed to foster trusting relationships, these approaches typically appear most effective at deepening trust among those who already hold positive attitudes about journalism and tend to be most interested in news. Changing the minds of the broader public, including those who do not trust news, may require convincing people of the value and relevance of news altogether to establish a firmer foundation for trust to take root.
• Editorial strategies for building trust appear to resonate most in the UK and the US, and somewhat less so in Brazil and India. While audiences in all four countries say they would welcome changes in news coverage, including more attention paid to regular, everyday people, more solutions-focused coverage, and less sensationalism and inaccuracy, overall evaluations of performance in many specific coverage areas is generally fairly positive, which suggests that the link between editorial content and trust is not always straightforward. The study also found meaningful variation in terms of how much emphasis certain audience subgroups place on specific concerns, such as making news more inclusive with respect to the range of diverse voices featured or reducing emphasis on subjects that may cause social division.
• Audiences rank transparency highly as a strategy for building trust, especially about ownership and funding but also editorial practices and ethical standards. Despite widespread agreement about the importance of transparency, the study also found somewhat divergent views about whether news organisations are committed to treating all sides fairly - and different expectations about such coverage - which suggests varying receptivity to transparency initiatives in practice. The study also found some evidence of potential backfire effects, with some interpreting efforts to be transparent about, for example, correcting errors in reporting, as evidence mainly of sloppiness or carelessness.
• Most place blame for problems in news coverage at the management and ownership level. Individual journalists are often perceived as doing the bidding of owners and leaders who are guided by ulterior commercial or political agendas. In addition, audiences express a preference for more inclusive funding models for news organisations that include the public as stakeholders through individual subscriptions (Brazil, the US, and the UK) or public funding through taxes (India). Some forms of funding (such as advertising or donations) tend to be viewed more suspiciously in ways that vary by media environment.
• Diversifying newsrooms is widely viewed as important for increasing trust, but the study finds less consensus around what aspects of diversity ought to be prioritised. Achieving more representative staffing amongst journalists in terms of their political views and economic class backgrounds often ranks highest, ahead of racial/ethnic or gender diversity. However, these aggregate results mask important differences within countries, with more marginalised groups typically prioritising diversity in areas seen as less critical to broader majorities. Despite these sometimes divergent perspectives, diversifying newsrooms is largely viewed as important for increasing trust.
• Many see current efforts to engage the public as lacking and say they would be more likely to trust news outlets that do more to listen to and connect with audiences. Engagement initiatives such as those that involve soliciting feedback and involving the public more in the production of news were viewed positively in all four countries; however, those most interested in participating in such efforts tend to be concentrated mainly among those who are already trusting of news and those with relatively more resources available in terms of time and money. Reaching the more indifferent public through these types of efforts may prove more challenging.

The report concludes that there are no easy solutions and no clear ways forward for newsrooms to increase trust. However, as stated in the conclusion, "trust is a relationship that requires effort on both sides - among those who seek to be trusted and on the part of those whose trust is sought. It requires starting from a place of mutual respect and openness, not only on the part of audiences but leadership within news organisations as well. The public is unlikely to extend their trust towards news outlets that do not themselves take the public's preferences seriously. By examining these preferences across four diverse societies, we have shown the extent to which these perspectives are not monolithic. Building a foundation of trust starts with taking these differences seriously and responding accordingly."