Credibility and Trust
Policymakers, scientists, and journalists have worried for years about declining public trust in their institutions. Are new technologies like social media contributing to this decline, or are they convenient scapegoats for broader forces in society? We discuss research on how populist politics and other anti-elite, anti-institutional movements are intersecting with declining public trust and the rise of alternative epistemologies.
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Teaching & Learning
Explore course modules, handouts, teaching tools and syllabi about dis- and misinformation.
Latest News on Credibility and Trust
Most people agree that news organisations and journalists should reflect all sides of an issue and not push a particular agenda – at least when asked about it in surveys. Our 2021 Digital News Report finds this to be true across countries and age groups. However, many people feel that the media often fail to […]
By Nic Newman
American politics has changed dramatically since my post-Watergate generation of journalists began covering the story. Political journalism hasn’t kept up. For years it was easy to cover “both sides” — Republicans and Democrats — as equally worthy, and blameworthy, partners in democracy. While we reporters had come of age as witnesses to the unprecedented resignation […]
By Jackie Calmes
There is a big difference between impossible and improbable and between truth and lies. The importance of these differences is amplified when we’re talking about science and critical issues of public health such as during a pandemic. We are hugely dependent on science and it is critical to almost every aspect of our lives but […]
By E. Paul Zehr
TUSKEGEE, Ala. — By the time vaccines for the coronavirus were introduced late last year, the pandemic had taken two of Lucenia Williams Dunn’s close friends. Still, Ms. Dunn, the former mayor of Tuskegee, contemplated for months whether to be inoculated. It was a complicated consideration, framed by the government’s botched response to the pandemic, […]
By Audra D.S. Burch and Amy Schoenfeld Walker
Beijing published a draft law stating that privately funded organisations “shall not engage in news-gathering, editing, and broadcasting”. Officials have not confirmed whether the new rules will apply to foreign news organisations operating in China, effectively making them illegal. But the move nevertheless indicates that Beijing may be preparing to exercise even greater control […]
By Sophia Yan
Most people agree that news organisations and journalists should reflect all sides of an issue and not push a particular agenda – at least when asked about it in surveys. Our 2021 Digital News Report finds this to be true across countries and age groups. However, many people feel that the media often fail to […]
By Nic NewmanAmerican politics has changed dramatically since my post-Watergate generation of journalists began covering the story. Political journalism hasn’t kept up. For years it was easy to cover “both sides” — Republicans and Democrats — as equally worthy, and blameworthy, partners in democracy. While we reporters had come of age as witnesses to the unprecedented resignation […]
By Jackie CalmesThere is a big difference between impossible and improbable and between truth and lies. The importance of these differences is amplified when we’re talking about science and critical issues of public health such as during a pandemic. We are hugely dependent on science and it is critical to almost every aspect of our lives but […]
By E. Paul ZehrTUSKEGEE, Ala. — By the time vaccines for the coronavirus were introduced late last year, the pandemic had taken two of Lucenia Williams Dunn’s close friends. Still, Ms. Dunn, the former mayor of Tuskegee, contemplated for months whether to be inoculated. It was a complicated consideration, framed by the government’s botched response to the pandemic, […]
By Audra D.S. Burch and Amy Schoenfeld WalkerBeijing published a draft law stating that privately funded organisations “shall not engage in news-gathering, editing, and broadcasting”. Officials have not confirmed whether the new rules will apply to foreign news organisations operating in China, effectively making them illegal. But the move nevertheless indicates that Beijing may be preparing to exercise even greater control […]
By Sophia Yan
November 1, 2021