In 1972 the Roper Centre for Public Opinion Research in the United States began asking:
In general, how much trust and confidence do you have in the news media – such as newspapers, T.V. (television), and radio – when it comes to reporting the news fully, accurately, and fairly – a great deal, a fair amount, not very much, or none at all?
The results for the past ten years are above.
The big changes from the 1970s? Well, those who trusted a ‘Great deal’ was 18% in 1972, and 10% in 1997, and ‘None’ was 6% in 1972 and 15% in 1997. But in the middle things have remained remarkably consistent.
What does it tell us about trust, and its use as a metric?
The numbers may seem solid, but the word and the concept? Pure mercury. Still, if you keep polling, you get something that passes for information. Don’t you?
There is absolutely no evidence to see trust as a cause of decline in traditional news media, any more than it caused the decline of Vaudeville, working men’s clubs or the Roman Empire.
Before the BBC aimed to be the most trusted news source (around 2002, if you read its annual reports), its aim was to be the most authoritative. Perhaps a look at the Roper figures will persuade it to reconsider its trust in trust.
2 responses to “Trust in the media”
Interesting. You are right to point out how the word itself has changed. I suspect that as people become better educated and informed and less deferential they will feel less happy to express complete ‘trust’ in anything. The proof is in the pudding of publication. People consume more media than ever before. Whether that will continue is another questin.
Charlie Beckett
There’s the horrible distinction of trust being situational or dispositional. I think I’m a situationist!