Even when it’s at an all-time high, trust in our trade is low
In our series giving a glimpse of life at The Independent, Will Gore says that amid cries of ‘fake news’, journalists are starting on the back foot – however, this is nothing new
When your friendly TV newsreader is beamed into your home to tell you what’s going on in the world, do you trust what they tell you? Do you see Huw Edwards and Jon Snow as bastions of verity or do you suspect their motives?
The results of Ipsos Mori’s annual Veracity Index suggest that newsreaders are increasingly raising eyebrows, with just 62 per cent of respondents trusting them to tell the truth – a fall of five percentage points on last year. Scepticism of the dreaded “MSM” (the mainstream media) appears to be denting even the credibility of those who were once beyond reproach.
Oddly, trust in “journalists” is much lower, down at 26 per cent. Since most newsreaders would regard themselves as journalists, it is a peculiar (if regular) discrepancy. Even if newsreaders are not producing the journalism they read, who – as Michael Crick put it – do the public think writes it?
Either way, for anyone who regards themselves as a journalist, knowing that just a quarter of the public trusts your trade to be truthful is not a pleasant thought. Regular attacks on the “fake news” media by a range of politicians from Donald Trump to Jeremy Corbyn only make working as a journalist feel more precarious.
It is notable, however, that things used to be worse for hacks. Back in 1983, when Ipsos Mori first ran its survey, journalists scored a trust rating of just 19 per cent; by contrast, last year’s result was an all-time high. Maybe that reflects the ever broadening definition of journalist; perhaps it’s an indicator that the industry has cleaned up its act after the dark days of phone-hacking and invented “kiss’n’tells”. Either way, it’s a kind of progress – and is something of a counterpoint to Trumpian assaults.
In the long term, it is trust that lies at the heart of a lasting relationship between a media outlet and its audience. We are acutely conscious of that and we will continue to work hard to ensure that you, our readers, never have reason to doubt The Independent.
Yours, Will Gore, Executive Editor