An optimistic view on increasing trust
Plus: new Medium digital magazine takes on trust
For the political philosopher Kevin Vallier, there’s “room for optimism despite the widely known fact that trust in both society and government is declining in the United States.” His deep dive into the scholarly literature reveals evidence that if we pursue fairness, fight discrimination and segregation, reduce corruption and protect rule of law, trust in society and the political system will increase.
Vallier’s piece, “Is Trust Possible in a Polarized Age?” published in the newly launched Medium Trust Issues digital magazine, summarizes his white paper commissioned by the Knight Foundation, and is one of a series informing the work of the Knight Commission on Trust, Media and Democracy.
Throughout the month of June 2018, Medium has been publishing original articles on the theme of trust in the premiere issue of its new digital magazine. Many of these pieces are relevant to the themes of trust in society that are being explored by the Knight Commission. These include:
- Nancy Gibbs, on the erosion of faith in the media: “It’s entirely rational that faith in institutions should drop when people conclude that everyone is doing a lousy job.”
- Baratunde Thurston, on finding out what Google and Facebook know about you, plus six demands for a “new tech manifesto.”
- Claire Zulkey interviewing journalism and media professors on why the media still matters.
- Francesca Tripodi on how Trump voters decide who to trust.
- Manoush Zomorodi on how blockchain technology can help restore trust.
- danah boyd on why her faith in journalism is waning–with ideas of how to make things better.
- Ian Bremmer explains why democracy still is the best system despite its flaws.
- And an interview with the philosopher Martha Nussbaum on how we “owe it to ourselves and to others to cultivate hope in ourselves since hope is needed to sustain our efforts on behalf of our nation.”
Dig in and let us know what you think in the comment section below.
