Broad erosion of trust in media: Implications for PR Pros
Here is something that I think is happening more and today.
A PR pro brings in a media relations strategy and the boss says:
Does anybody read/watch/listen anymore?
People don’t even trust the media anymore.
Both of which have elements of the truth to them. There’s no doubt that news media usage is down and no doubt that trust in the media has cratered. Even so, there are good reasons to include media relations as part of your communication mix, which I detailed in PR’s Climate Change.
Lastly, just as a reminder….here is what most people think PR is…
And here is the reality…
And you can see, right up in the upper right-hand corner, is media relations…a sub-head.
Back to that meeting with the boss. We can pick up some ideas for the conversation from some recent research from the Knight Foundation.
Mistrust of media is real and serious.
Remember the trust axis from Gallup? People trust based on their perception of your ethics and your competence. In the past, I think that many people thought the media was sloppy, lazy, and easily influenced. The research shows that now half of the people surveyed think the national media INTENDS to mislead. This is a WOW. Not a competence issue, but an ethics issue.
Second, it’s getting worse and is spread across age categories and among people of all political persuasions, to differing degrees.
Local media retains trust
That mistrust of news is for national news, not local.
Source: The Knight Foundation
For many organizations, local media isn’t enough
Maybe your organization is in one market. But if you need to reach people in multiple localities, local doesn’t solve all the problems. It’s harder to scale. And, to pitch local media you need a story with a highly-local angle, which is sometimes a stretch. Also, local media is dwindling. In print-only towns, there are fewer reporters and outlets every day.
If you are in a town that is a primary market for TV news, the research shows that there is trust and engagement there, although the viewers might be online as opposed to at their “television” at 6 pm.
Trade Still Connects in B2B Spaces
Research I blogged about recently showed that executives continue to look to publications that had editorial processes. So in a media relations mix, trade certainly can continue to impact decision-makers.
To seek validation, influencers are growing in importance
Going back to that right-hand box, we see that the title is earned media, not just media relations. Going back even further, to our first day in PR-land, is the term third-party validation, which is why we are doing this in the first place.
As you can see in my whitepaper on reputation management, there are other options, including influencer and blogger relations, which are not the same things, but close cousins. This part of the practice is new to older PR people, but it can be a source of trusted validation where the media might not be trusted or strong enough to carry your story.