At Washington Post Live event, journalists, experts discuss what we all need to do next
Listen more. Smother them in facts. Don’t get mired in the tweet of the moment, even if it comes from the White House. Be transparent and clear. Take responsibility. If you’re the media, and you’re in a bad relationship with social media platforms, maybe you’re better off out of it.
These were some of the ideas from the gathering of a group of prominent journalists, policy advocates, and other experts when discussing the findings of a recently released Gallup poll of more than 19,000 Americans on trust and the media at a Washington Post Live event on January 23, 2018. Panelists ranged from Fox News, PBS NewsHour, The Weekly Standard, American Urban Radio Networks, and more.
Among the major findings: the majority of Americans believe that the media is essential to democracy, but they don’t think that it’s doing a good job. Also, there’s a deep partisan divide, with conservatives and independents more likely to lack trust in the media.
See the Washington Post Live recap with video highlights from the two-hour event. Read the full transcript here. Tell us what you think in the comment section for this piece, or tweet at #knightcomm to join the conversation.
Talk less, listen more
The Knight Foundation’s own Jennifer Preston, Vice President for Journalism, drawing on her experience as the first social media editor at The New York Times, said that journalists would do better by thinking of social media not as a way to “to broadcast … but to use it to listen.”
The urgent need to listen more was echoed by many panelists throughout the morning. Fox News’ Bret Baier remarked that he is “pro-diner, I am pro-listening, at those spots that you often see, and I actually think that that’s the solution.”
Indira Lakshmanan, Newmark Chair in Journalism Ethics at The Poynter Institute, said, “I wish that instead of increasing the filter bubbles by social media encouraging us to look at more of the same things, I wish that instead we were encouraged to get out of that filter bubble and listen more … the use of social media for journalists is not for us to broadcast out all our ideas but rather to listen to the public and hear what you all think. “ (See it at minute mark 3:20 in the video below.)
Smother them in facts
Panelists responded that the public will ultimately respond to facts. Steven Hayes, Editor-in-Chief of The Weekly Standard, a conservative opinion publication, said, “The answer … in terms of a solution…is smother people with facts. Again and again and agin and be relentless about smothering people in facts.” (See it at minute mark 15:20 in the video below.) The Weekly Standard recently joined the International Fact-Checking Network.
If the social media platform media relationship isn’t working, the media is better off out of it
Jay Rosen, Professor of Journalism at New York University, offered the idea that the recent announcements by Facebook that it would be prioritizing posts by friends and family in news feeds rather than stories from media outlets might not be such a bad thing for the media. (See his remarks at minute mark 3:04 in the video below.)
“It’s going to be a good thing in the same way that when you finally realize that this relationship isn’t working and you get out of it, that’s a good thing. Producers of news can finally look at this Goliath Facebook and realize it kind of has a majestic indifference to the fortunes of the news industry.”
Distrust of the media is not new
A number of the panelists touched on what it’s like covering Washington in an era when the president emphasizes distrust of the media in public statements.
Lakshmanan emphasized that “Donald Trump did not create this problem. Donald Trump has capitalized the existing distrust of the media in order to say “fake news” and try to discredit the entire media ecosystem. The objective is clear. He’s doing it in order to say, “I’m the only one you can trust.” He wants to say, “You can only believe me. You can’t believe any of these other people.” So that it discredits any negative news that’s reported about him because he’s discrediting the givers of that news. That predated him.”
Baier urged journalists not to get stuck in the “tweet of the moment” coming out of Washington and rather rise above that to present a more comprehensive view of the news. “[B]ecause it’s like a fishing hook and we’re all fish, and suddenly the hook goes in and we chase it for part of the day…Well, there are about seven hooks through the day, and I think that that’s the challenge for the news media, is to be able to give perspective on stories that people care about.”
Everyone needs to take responsibility
When it comes to spreading false information, everyone has to take responsibility, urged Nuala O’Connor, President and CEO of Center for Democracy & Technology, at minute mark 10:31 above.
“Every actor in a democracy has a responsibility to further the principles of democracy including truth. And that involves you and your personal choices about what you share. That involves the platforms and how the algorithms are programmed to begin with. And so to say that they’re just neutral is a fallacy. All algorithms have values. The question is what are they and how do we engage with them and know what they are.”
Learn more about the Knight Foundation’s Commission on Trust, Media and Democracy and related efforts
At the Washington Post Live event, the Knight Foundation’s Jennifer Preston, Vice President for Journalism, gave an overview of the work of the Commission on Trust, Media and Democracy and related efforts. Watch the clip below to learn more. And read here about a new opportunity for newsrooms to apply for funding from the Community Listening and Engagement Fund to deploy tools to help journalists listen to their audiences more effectively, Hearken and GroundSource.
