In August, nearly 400 news outlets made the case for the importance of journalism in response to President Donald Trump’s repeated claim that the media is “the enemy of the people.”
In #FreePress editorials published in newspapers across the country, writers stressed journalism’s role in a democracy, and that a free press is essential to a free society.
The message came at a time when anti-press rhetoric is soaring and concerns about inaccuracy and bias in the news have meant Americans’ trust in the media is lingering near all-time lows.
Yet our research suggests that if news organizations are truly going to close the trust gap, they must go beyond explanations of what journalism means to democracy and directly make the case for what it means to citizens.
As researchers and journalists, we launched The 32 Percent Project to explore how citizens define trust and how news organizations can better earn it. Named for the percentage of Americans who had confidence in the news media in 2016, the project was guided by the principle that the best way to discover what citizens want is to ask them.
We held public conversations with 54 people in four communities across the country, asking questions about what news organizations should do to increase public trust. Here are four insights from those conversations
Source: 4 Things Journalists Can Do to Rebuild Trust with the Public | The Conversation