For many decades, businesses have leveraged public relations to help build their brands’ credibility in the public eye. Although PR encompasses many other dimensions, in recent years, it’s largely become synonymous with media relations — the art of pitching newsworthy ideas to journalists for inclusion in their stories.
How The Credibility of the Media Can Affect Businesses
When journalists include companies in their coverage, the perceived value of those brands skyrockets due to the third-party validation they receive, which builds brand credibility that can’t otherwise be attained through owned and paid media tactics. This is because the media has traditionally been trusted as an unbiased source of information. In other words, because the media is credible, being in media boosts your credibility.
But with the credibility of the media on the decline, companies eventually may not benefit from the reputation-building nature of PR. If this were to happen, it would become even more challenging for brands to build credibility.
According to the results of a 2018 Gallup/Knight Foundation Survey, “less than half of Americans (44%) say they can think of a news source that reports the news objectively,” and most Americans (66%) say most news outlets do a poor job of “separating fact from opinion.”
These findings are extremely problematic for companies that rely on the media to boost their credibility. It’s also a concern for businesses that rely on the news to report unbiased information about the world at large in order to make important business decisions.
What Can Be Done To Rebuild Trust in the Media?
A 2018 Gallup/Knight Foundation survey found that transparency is the key to restoring trust in the news media. Most respondents also said a news organization being neutral (58%) and “clearly distinguishing news stories from commentary, analysis or advertiser-paid content” (64%) is “very important” to their trust in the news outlet.
We’ve certainly witnessed more news media outlets across the board become less neutral and more slanted in their reporting in recent years, which isn’t helping the cause. At times, modern news stories are nearly indistinguishable from opinion and commentary pieces.
What’s more, Americans have different opinions on which outlets are misrepresenting facts or fabricating information based on their political biases and worldviews. Some believe that the mainstream media is fake news and the alternative media is telling the truth, whereas others believe that alternative news is fake news and the mainstream media is telling the truth.
Although almost all Americans are concerned about fake news — regardless of the direction in which their finger is pointing blame — it continues to spread. Two additional studies, “Social Media and Fake News in the 2016 Election” and “Examining the Alternative Media Ecosystem through the Production of Alternative Narratives of Mass Shooting Events on Twitter,” found fake news spreads for two reasons: to profit from sensationalist attitudes and to promote political ideologies.
As a result, many are trying to fight fake news through increased censorship measures designed to combat disinformation by flagging potential “fake” stories and making it easier for users to report them. Although these may seem like quick solutions, they could actually further damage the credibility of the media among those who already fear the mainstream media is biased or fake. Censorship is also problematic because it defies the country’s founding commitment to freedom of speech — and it sets a dangerous principle that whoever dictates what messages should be suppressed can filter out the free speech of opposing ideas in the future.
Based on Stephen Covey’s book The SPEED of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything, there are 13 techniques to build trust. Here’s how the media can apply each of them:
Talk Straight: Be neutral and unbiased in tone. Clearly distinguish news stories from commentary, analysis and advertiser-paid content. Demonstrate Respect: Make additional research or reporting publicly available, such as full, unedited interviews. Don’t treat readers, viewers and/or listeners like they’re unintelligent, easily misled or incapable of correctly interpreting the reporting and information presented. Create Transparency: Avoid censorship of news, information and statistics at all costs. Provide scientific sources, statistics and visualizations of statistical information. Right Wrongs: Make quick and visible corrections. Show Loyalty: Represent readers across both sides of the aisle, from all walks of life, who aren’t there to speak for themselves (including those you disagree with politically). Deliver Results: Rigorously adhere to journalistic standards, ideals and guidelines. Establish a track record of unbiased, factually accurate coverage. Never prioritize speed over accuracy. Get Better: Consistently strive to improve your craft. Confront Reality: Take issues head-on, even the “undiscussables. " Lead courageously in conversation, even about “taboo” topics that are deemed unworthy of dialogue. Clarify Expectations: Avoid being branded by the outlet’s visible opinion leaders as “left” or “right,” which can turn off large segments of the population and damage trust. Practice Accountability: Take responsibility for how the outlet is perceived, whether good or bad, and for improving your credibility if it’s an issue. Listen First. Listen before addressing readers, viewers and/or listeners to understand and diagnose their needs and desires. Keep Commitments: Say what you’re committed to doing as a media outlet, and then do it. Extend Trust: Start with a propensity to trust readers to be intelligent and interpret information and facts for themselves, without strongarming them with opinions and interpretations. Demonstrate you trust readers by empowering them to interpret facts and information for themselves by sharing unedited resources and statistics that are unbiased and unslanted.
These are the same steps all businesses and business leaders should take to improve trust — both in our brands and ourselves. And it’s a path forward so we can ultimately build a society that values honesty and integrity above all else.
