The latest Edelman Trust Barometer is a depressing read.
The world is not a happy place.
According to the report, globally, there is an unprecedented lack of faith in institutional leaders — an average of 69 percent of respondents worry government leaders, business leaders and journalists purposely mislead them by saying things they know are false or gross exaggerations.
And, the report says, respondents believe that “government and business harm them and serve narrow interests, and ultimately the wealthy benefit while regular people struggle.”
Worryingly, this resentment and sense of grievance could turn ugly as “four in 10 respondents — 53 percent of those aged 18-34 — approve of one or more forms of hostile activism to bring about change, which includes attacking people online, intentionally spreading disinformation, threatening or committing violence, and damaging public or private property.”
The widespread sense of grievance is directed at the media too:
- 70% of respondents fear that journalists and reporters lie to us (up from 59% in 2021).
- 58-75% (the report broke figures down by level of ‘grievance’, hence the range) of people think that news organisations would rather attract a big audience than tell people what they need to know.
- 53-67% of people think that news organisations would rather support an ideology than inform the public.
For us working in publishing, those last three points are ones we can help do something about. We need to work out ways to burnish our trust credentials, improve transparency and robustly communicate our trustworthiness to the wider world. Oh, and never tell lies and dial back on the ideology...
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