Trust in the Media
When it comes to journalism, accuracy and trust are pillars of the business, and any diversion from these two values has an effect on people’s perception of journalists.
Some people may have the idea that only the small publications and new journalists looking to make a name for themselves. However, examples such as Jason Blair at the New York Times and Stephen Glass at The New Republic prove that it can happen to any publication.
With the passage of time, trust in journalists has gone from a blind-trust to a more skeptical view. With the rise of the Internet and social media, journalists can no longer expect people to just take their word for it.
“Journalists, who once enjoyed a near-monopoly on the reporting of public information, must now compete with other citizens in a Web-dominated information marketplace,” said Ivor Shapiro, Colette Brin, Isabelle Bedard-Brule, and Kasia Mychahlowycz in Journalism Practice.
The Stephen Glass story in the movie Shattered Glass illustrates this principle due to its’ setting in a world prior to social media when the Internet was in its’ infancy. Glass was able to abuse his trust as a journalist to write multiple fake articles for a well-respected newspaper.
People simply took his word for it because what else were they supposed to do? Glass had notes documenting events he supposedly had been at featuring people that either were fictional or fictionized versions of real people.
They were supposedly verified by what he has documented in his notes. It appeared to be accurate, however, it was simply untrue. This is a loophole that Glass exploited in Shattered Glass.
In the modern day, simple research would easily prove how ridiculous Glass’ story was. It would likely be impossible to do exactly what Glass did in the modern day.
Because of the modern day Internet, writing untruthful or inaccurate things and getting away with it can be very difficult. However, at the same time anyone can act like an expert on social media. Because of this, it is very easy for someone to apparently disprove such claims by giving a half-baked argument on social media.
That being said, people generally tend to not use social media to get their news. According to Pew Research, only 27% of adults in 2021 said they trust any or all information that exists on social media.
That should mean that people gain their trust in respected news organizations correct? That is simply not true.
According to the same Pew Research study, only 58% of adults in 2021 trust the information from what they call “national news organizations”. However, when divided amongst party lines, the image becomes more clear.
In 2021, 78% of of people who lean Democrat have a level of trust the national media, while only 35% of those who lean Republican have some trust in the news media. That is a scary dichotomy. However, there is still skepticism on both sides.
“When it was last asked in late 2019, 65% expressed at least some trust.” Jeffrey Gottfried and Jacob Liedke said in Pew Research, “And far fewer (12%) express that they have ‘a lot’ of trust in the information that comes from national news organizations.”
This means that people generally have a skepticism of the media. It appears that no matter what, trust in the media simply will not be what it once was.Gone are the days of people like Walter Cronkite being called “The most trusted man in America”.
With that being said, local news media tends to be well-trusted. According to Pew Research, 75% of Americans had trust in the local news media (84% of Democrats and 66% of Republicans). However, this does not necessarily mean that local news media is not totally out from under the umbrella of the mainstream media.
“National media informs the larger communication action context in that the narratives it circulates have the potential to influence how residents connect with and interpret local stories and other storytellers.” Andrew Wenzel said in Community Centered Journalism.
Overall, trust in the media is a fickle thing, and people even from respected news organizations show that no organization is immune to these bad apples. In the modern age, the media probably will never hold the same level of respect and trust it once held. No matter who, what, when, where, why, and how, there will always be a reason to take something with a grain of salt.
