Trust Issues & Journalism

Liza Schumacher 

ls605210@ohio.edu

 

Trust is a two-way street, at least that's what my counselor says. So how can we fix the bumpy, pothole filled two-way street that is the relationship between journalists and the public? 

We need journalists, and journalists need us. The evolution of journalism has been building from the beginning of humanity. According to The Elements of Journalism, "People have an intrinsic need -- an instinct -- to know what is occurring beyond their own experience, the events over the hill. Being aware of events we cannot see for ourselves engenders a sense of security, control, and confidence. One writer has called it a hunger for awareness." 

This hunger for awareness, our basic human instinct, is what drives journalists to succeed within their profession. Journalists have a code they must abide by. Within this code there are elements to be truthful, serve the public, monitor power, keep things interesting, personal conscience, and more. The Elements of Journalism states, "in journalism there is added tension between its public service mission- the aspect of work that justifies its intrusiveness- and the interests that finance the work." 

Picture source: imgflip.com

 

As the public we want good content at the tip of our fingers, around the clock. We expect journalists to ask the hard questions and seek the truth, we expect transparency, and yet we don't support journalists. The narrative is that you can't trust the "media." 

Who exactly is "the media" we can't trust? For some, its the entire entity of mainstream media. For others, they trust certain media that they agree with, but everything else is untrustworthy. When you ask someone what media they trust, they often will state their preferred media source with an explanation on why they think it isn't biased. It seems to me the average citizen is looking for an unbiased news source. 

According to an article by Pew Research Center, "Americans take issue with what they perceive as a lack of transparency by news organizations -- both with respect to the work they do and the inner workings of their companies." This includes how they are financed, where they get their stories, how it's produced, and how factual their stories are.  

Perhaps the answer in mending our trust issues with the media starts with more transparency from news organizations and increased support from citizens. 

The Elements of Journalism discusses the final element of journalism being the role of the citizen. "The public will also need to contribute to journalism itself, not by performing all of its functions but by supporting and engaging in more aspects of them." Going back to that two-way street... 

Citizens want to be able to trust their news sources. Most journalists want to provide accountable, truthful, compelling news stories. Subscribe to the news sources you trust, support local news, give back monetarily to the news sources you consume if possible, share the stories, hit that thumbs up button, and engage. If trust is a two-way street then we will have to build it back together.