The road to rebuilding trust in the media
The problem of trust in the media is bigger than the media alone.
“Technology has changed us as people,” said Maria Ressa, CEO of Rappler.com, at a Storyology panel on the topic. “We have to acknowledge this. It’s rewiring our brain.”
And it’s happening, in large part, on Facebook — a platform that contains both the news and a multitude of other perspectives, which are often unverified and come from who knows where. For many readers, the lines between reality and propaganda, news and fake news, have blurred.
“It’s the ecosystem that contributes to the lack of trust.”
Facebook, she says, needs to be held as accountable for content as news producers. It needs to be a safer space.
“The fundamental assumption of Facebook as a platform needs to be reevaluated. … where is that public space, and where is it safe?”
Frederic Filloux, editor of the Monday Note, was more adamant about the platform’s shortcomings. He believes it is to blame for the growing disconnection between producers and their audiences, and that undermines journalism. Yet he’s hopeful for the future of news.
“News will survive if we are able to restore the direct relationship with the reader, restore those values that are important to the public.”
“Media is fighting for quality,” he said. Filloux is working on a project to algorithmically rank the quality of news, called the News Quality Scoring Project.
Esther Chan, Hong Kong editor of Storyful, said journalists themselves have to step up to help restore trust. They’re under pressure to work at a faster pace. But when they slip up, they breach their readers’ trust.
“It’s easy for journalists to rush and publish something that is unverified,” she said. “Journalists must stick to their fundamental values of accuracy and be consistent and correct.”
Ressa said this is a crucial time for journalists to reinvent their form, saying they need to maintain the discipline and purpose of their mission for democracy’s sake.
She added a poignant final message.
“We need to figure out the impact of social media on us as people. Journalism is a ‘thinking slow’ medium and reading is a ‘thinking slow’ medium.” Thinking things through takes time. And social media has caused people to expect everything to be instant.
“How do we marry this? What are our kids going to be like? … It’s about people, not just about journalism.”
