Whats the fuss around trust Whats the fuss

What’s the fuss around trust?

What’s the fuss around trust? Various surveys and barometers try to quantify trust through asking a single question and industries seem to be increasingly taking the result as gospel. At Newsworks, we know trust can’t be measured that easily, so we partnered with d. fferento/ogy to explore what trust means in relation to news media, shedding light on a complex and often misunderstood concept. Source: Newsworks trust research, 2017

Newsworks trust research methodology Conducted by d. fferento/ogy A combination of qualitative and quantitative methodological approaches Stage 1 Desk research conducted to establish a broader understanding of trust as a foundation for further investigation Stage 2 Quantitative omnibus style online survey conducted in two waves; immediately before and after the 2017 UK General Election. 10 minutes long, 1000 respondents aged 16+ (nat. rep. ) – No significant findings so results not included Stage 3 Qualitative ‘Super groups’: in depth focus groups with 12 participants involving discussions and exercises around trust and newsbrands. Stage 4 Quantitative online survey: 20 minute online questionnaire. 2000 respondents aged 16+ (nat. rep. ) Source: Newsworks trust research, 2017

Academic standpoint - Onora O’Neill For inspiration, we looked to Onora O’Neill, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge and a member of the House of Lords to establish some key elements intrinsic in trust. Trust needs a context in that we trust different people for different things. Trust is personal in that in real life we place trust in a differentiated way. We don’t assume just because we trust our local greengrocer that this means we trust all greengrocers. Source: Newsworks trust research, 2017, Onora O’Neill, What we don’t understand about trust, 2013

Trust in newsbrands is complex Personal relationship Multi-dimensional Needs context Trust is personal – people have relationships with particular things. In this case their chosen newspaper brands Trust is multi-dimensional – there are many complexly intertwined factors that make up trust overall Trust needs context – you might trust your milkman to deliver your milk, but you wouldn’t trust him to operate on your leg Source: Newsworks trust research, 2017

Trust in news is driven mostly by honesty and accuracy Two key drivers of trust in news are honesty and accuracy What is honesty? Honesty is about whether you’re truthful as far as you know, respectful of the story and who it’s about and keeping moral and ethical integrity What is accuracy? Accuracy is related to being reliable, transparent and giving a factual recount of the event as much as possible. However, you can be selective about which facts you emphasise. Nothing is expected to be 100%, but you should do your utmost to check, validate and correct wherever necessary Source: Newsworks trust research, 2017

Other important factors in trust Other key factors are: - Reliability - consistently adhering to the same standards of professional journalism that you would expect. - Competence - the ability to perform something to a certain standard. - Empathy - all subjects and stories are treated with respect and integrity, and are sensitive towards the people involved in the story. Objectivity is seen as desirable but completely unobtainable. Impartiality is the ‘icing on the cake’. Source: Newsworks trust research, 2017

What about impartiality? Impartiality is often an assumed requirement for a news brand to be trustworthy and many surveys indicate that a majority of people want facts without opinion. But this ‘ideal’ is both difficult to achieve (we are all partial, so judging impartiality is very difficult) and, in reality, belied by people’s actual behaviour. • Impartiality is low in the hierarchy of what’s needed to trust a news brand. • Analysis and opinion is required to assess what facts mean and whether the story is accurate and reliably told. People tend to use multiple sources. Newspaper brands have “permission” to present a clear worldview or stance, provided they are honest about such bias. • Quantitative research shows no correlation between impartiality and trust. The BBC struggles to maintain impartiality for significant groups of people, as the means that it often uses balancing quite extreme opposing views - leaves neither side feeling adequately represented and lacks resolution for those in the middle. The brands that people feel closest to are the brands that reflect their existing views. Emotional trust is more powerful than a purely rational belief that the facts are correct. Source: Newsworks trust research, 2017

Asking trust on a channel level doesn’t give a valid answer ‘Do you trust newspapers? ’ 44% ‘Do you trust social media? ’ 23% People give much lower scores for trust in media when it’s asked on a channel level. When you think about it, this isn’t surprising, especially when it comes to newsbrands. Most people read one or a small number of newsbrands of their choice. How could you expect a Mail reader to trust The Guardian and vice versa? This effect drags down overall channel results – people don’t trust newsbrands they never use Source: Newsworks trust research, 2017

Asking on a brand level is one step better Once you start asking the basic trust question on a brand level, you see results improve ‘Do you trust the newspaper brand you read? ’ Mid/pop average 64% Source: Newsworks trust research, 2017 Quality average 77%

Trust is multi-dimensional and needs a context Trust is far too complex to be discovered through asking a single question, there also far too many variables to try to build results back up to a single numeric representation So we asked brand users to rate their news brand(s) over the five key areas that we identified contribute to trust Honesty Accuracy Reliability Competence Empathy and across four types of news that all news brands cover to some degree Breaking news Source: Newsworks trust research, 2017 National news Sports news Lifestyle news

When trust is broken down, scores are highest Measured by types of news and facets of trust ‘quality’ average ‘mid/pop’ average Breaking news National news Sports news Lifestyle news Competently 75% 76% 77% 73% 80% Reliably 74% 78% 72% 84% 79% Honestly 74% 73% 77% 71% 85% 84% 78% Accurately 73% 75% 77% 72% 81% 77% With empathy 72% 71% 74% 69% Breaking news National news Sports news Lifestyle news Competently 86% 84% 80% Reliably 85% 83% Honestly 84% 83% Accurately 84% With empathy 82% Source: Newsworks trust research, 2017

The majority are relying more on established newsbrands Contrary to popular narrative that newsbrands are diminishing, the rise of fake news as a societal issue has led to the majority of people relying more on established newsbrands ‘Since the rise of fake news, I rely more on established newspaper brands’ 6 in 10 agree Source: Newsworks trust research, 2018 65% of under 35’s agree 75% of Londoners agree

The truth around trust Our findings are further evidence that the concept of trust is oversimplified When you ask someone about trust through a single question, results are lower than when asking about the components of trust separately. The concept is far to complex to comprehend at once and different individuals have different interests and reasons for interacting with media Personal relationship Source: Newsworks trust research, 2018 Multi-dimensional Needs context

So…does trust really matter? Yes. . . but a healthy scepticism is useful for both news users and commentators on the health and wellbeing of the news industry - Trust doesn’t drive usage (more the other way round) - The more sources that are used, the more each one is trusted - 100% trust is a very dangerous thing indeed in today’s media environment - Trust in an entire media is a meaningless concept Whether we like it or not, the quality of sports section, the fit with one’s own political views, or even the inside info on celebs is always going to out-trump overall trust as a motivation to use and keep using newsbrands