Helping journalists earn news consumers’ trust
How do people decide what news is trustworthy? And how can journalists influence what users consume and share? This site offers guidance on those questions, which are crucial in an era when journalists struggle to stand out in a minefield of misinformation.
With the help of 14 news outlets, we spent a year studying users' reactions to social media strategies designed to enhance trust. What we've learned can help journalists influence what the public chooses to believe, and to pass along. (In a rush? Jump straight to these ideas worth stealing.)
The next phase of the Trusting News project is also underway. Newsrooms signed up to interview their own news consumers about how they decide what to trust.) Results will be published in Summer 2017.
We analyzed about 500 Facebook posts to identify strategies that gained reader trust — and those that didn't.
We tagged the posts by strategy, success rate, and newsroom to make them easy to search and learn from.
Want to get started? These worksheets can help your newsroom discuss which approaches might work for you.