Study Concludes News Trust Is Fragile

Magid and the RTDNA (Radio Television Digital News Association) released released a research project focused on trust in news. One finding saw that 60% of local news viewers are in Strong Agreement that one journalist can compel people to tune out. 

“For some time now we’ve known the ‘what’ — that public trust in journalism has been eroding, even for local broadcast newsrooms, which, by and large, have always been among the most trusted,” RTDNA president and CEO Dan Shelley said. “Now we know, for the first time, the ‘why,’ and, more important, ‘how’ local journalists can rebuild and retain trust.”

RTDNA is a trade association for news professionals and Magid is a consulting agency. RTDNA/Magid said the project serves as “a roadmap for newsrooms to adopt and follow to maintain and win back trust in their communities.”

Magid surveyed 2,000 adult local news consumers, who were asked to evaluate a series of actions and qualities and rate them from 1 (totally disagree) to 10 (totally agree) on how they impacted trust in local news.

The Key findings:

• Trust in local news sources is good, but not excellent and it’s extremely fragile.
• 50% of people who say they trust a local news source also say they have questioned whether they should. 
• 1 in 5 say local TV or local radio are sources with “fake news”.
• A question about the trustworthiness of a single journalist puts the integrity of the entire organization in jeopardy
• 60% of respondents share this “one rotten apple” sentiment.
• Action, not promotion, is the key to cultivating trust with the audience.
• There are 28 things local news sources and journalists should work on to earn and build trust.
• Success will not come from the targeting of a specific demographic. The findings are very consistent across all demos. It is not a generational challenge.
• Social media is a significant challenge. It is easily the least trusted local news platform. It is also the second most used local platform daily. Journalists who post personal opinions on social media are hurting their trust relationship with the audience