Trust is important in journalism!

Bryan Kurp
bk849717@ohio.edu

Journalism is a very important aspect to society, and more specifically, a community.  Citizens expect journalists to deliver accurate news and journalists need to be trustworthy. Delivering the news is important, but developing trust with the community is the most important. In this article, the Observer-Reporter said that being a trusted local news source is its main goal as well as for its sister publications.  The Observer-Reporter is a newspaper located in southwest Pennsylvania. 

As a student journalist, it is my goal to tell the news in a meaningful way that will positively affect my community. I also want to earn the trust of my community. There are several ways I can earn trust in my community. First of all, I want to be accurate in my reporting. If I was inaccurate, I would lose all trust and it would be very hard to regain. Also, I want to be a journalist that has a positive influence in the community.  I want to be known as a reporter with a good reputation, not as a reporter that has been known to misinterpret stories or copy other news outlets.  Lastly, I want to be open to the community for feedback and constructive criticism. I want to be engaged in the community, which may include replying to emails or social media posts sent in from community members.

In an article published by Poynter, there are seven ways news media outlets can rebuild trust and sustainability. One of the key points I saw in this article was to "Trumpet Success More," which means to remind the audience of the work the news outlets do.  The article uses PBS and NPR as examples because they are forced to regularly stress the benefits of what they do through pledge drives. I agree that media outlets should express their goals and benefits to the public as well as any accolades the outlet or journalist has earned.

Another point I agreed with in the Poynter article was to actively seek out opportunities for engagement. These activities can help audiences peak behind the journalistic curtain, as the article described. One activity I would suggest is to have an open public forum for the community. At these forums, community members can ask questions or submit story ideas for media outlets. By encouraging the audience to do this, media outlets can identify stories that journalists may not have known the audience was interested in. I also feel it would be a good idea to hear people's opinions on the media outlet's coverage.  I think that media outlets should be open to hearing the public's opinion on how that outlet is doing reporting the news.

I believe that building trust is important as a journalist, because if you have a lot of trust as a journalist, your media outlet can likely be better trusted.  I would rather read an article or watch the nightly news for a newspaper or station that is filled with many trusted journalists rather than with journalists that are not trustworthy. 

Trust is one of the first things journalists need to establish with the audience!

(Image from gamesnosh.com)