Resurgence of trust in traditional media

Scandals around Fake News and increased conversations on trust have seen trust in journalism for general news and information rise by five per cent in the past year, reaching a seven-year high of 59 per cent.

Galaxy research commissioned by NewsMediaWorks showed print news media is more highly trusted for content and advertising than other mediums.

Social media was the only media type studied to return a negative trust score.

Australia started discussions about problematic social media platforms through the parliamentary inquiry into independent journalism, which is still ongoing. Each year the Edelman Trust Barometer designates a theme to the year ahead and 2018 has been named “The battle of truth”.

While the title may sound concerning, it is an improvement upon 2017’s dreary outlook of “Trust in crisis”.

A staggering 70 per cent of the global public are concerned about Fake News being used as a weapon, a statistic likely worsened by the blurring of the definitions of media.

When asked what was meant by the phrase “media in general”, 48 per cent of respondents to the 2018 Edelman Trust Barometer identified social platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter.

Social media came in second to journalists at 89 per cent, with apps from news organisations coming in third at 41 per cent. This blurring is making it increasingly difficult for news consumers to differentiate real news from Fake News.

63 per cent of the general public struggle to tell the difference between journalism and rumour or falsehood, while 59 per cent believe it is harder to tell the truth between fake news and that produced by reputable news media sources.