Report sees a growth in trust of traditional media – a development that should not be taken for granted
The Edelman trust barometer shows a clear appetite by the public to consume news and information from sources they trust. With the entrenchment of social media in society, together with the increase in the number of news sources, the report suggests that consumers are beginning to become smarter at filtering who and where they get their news from.
For the first time the media, in all its forms, is ranked the least trusted global institution. Within this, trust in journalists has risen as it has with experts such as CEO’s – with 12 and 7 points respectively. In stark contrast trust in ‘people like you’, such as social media influencers, saw the biggest fall. This is reflected in the UK with only 24% of the population having trust in social media.
Reputation is fragile and, having begun to reconnect with the public, traditional media and business are once again finding themselves moving back to a position of authority. Within the Barometer report, the public’s main expectation for the media was to “guard information quality” and for businesses to “protect privacy”. This clearly places firm responsibilities on the institutions.
The challenge for public relations is to put strategies in place to achieve this and to ensure this new found increase in trust is consolidated and repaid through consistent, high quality content. As for social media, public expectation would dictate the platform owners need to step up and take swift and decisive action to raise standards.
Notes to editors
About the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR)Founded in 1948, the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) is the Royal Chartered professional body for public relations practitioners in the UK and overseas. The CIPR is the largest membership organisation for PR practitioners outside of North America. By size of turnover and number of individually registered members, we are the leading representative body for the PR profession and industry in Europe.
The CIPR advances professionalism in public relations by making its members accountable to their employers and the public through a code of conduct and searchable public register, setting standards through training, qualifications, awards and the production of best practice and skills guidance, facilitating Continuing Professional Development (CPD), and awarding Chartered Public Relations Practitioner status (Chart.PR).