In this new information era, we’re focused on helping creators and journalists better meet people’s information needs
In creator vs. journalist discourse, our focus is on helping people identify credible information
We know many people, particularly younger people, are not consuming news the same way journalists in newsrooms have traditionally conceived of news.
Instead, they are turning to trusted individuals and online personalities for information. While content creators’ presence in the information space is hardly new, their growing popularity has been met with resistance from some traditional journalists. (A new Reuters report found that about a quarter of journalists feel the shift toward influencers as informers was negative for journalism.)
Too often, traditional journalists approach new models with skepticism and defensiveness and focus on defining who is and is not a “real” journalist. They dismiss emerging platforms as fluffy or not credible. Just consider the industry’s early (and sometimes continuing) attitudes toward social media overall, and blogging before that.
At Trusting News, we’re not interested in closing ranks or deciding who’s allowed in the journalism club. Instead, we’re focused on helping people find and assess news in an increasingly complex environment.
Meeting information needs
No matter where people turn for information — whether it’s a news website, social media, TV, or newsletter — people should be able to identify if information is factual and credible. But in this era of information overload and quickly advancing AI technologies, it’s only becoming more and more challenging to discern what information is trustworthy and credible.
Our end goal at Trusting News is to help people have access to ethical, accurate and helpful information. We stand in the gap between newsrooms and the communities they aim to serve, helping them understand each other. And with the rising popularity of news content creators further decentralizing the information space, this mission is all the more critical.
That’s why we partnered with Project C’s Liz Kelly Nelson this fall to survey both traditional and non-traditional journalists about ethical standards for creators. What we found is 86% of people surveyed agreed there should be a shared set of ethical standards for independent creator journalists. The results, although preliminary, indicate there’s a hunger among both traditional and non-traditional journalists for more conversation, research and training around what these best practices should look like.
This new information landscape calls for new approaches, which we aim to tackle in two ways.
- We want to help responsible creators make their ethics and integrity clear to their audiences.
- We want to help traditional newsrooms adapt to this new information era by learning from creators’ success and developing partnerships that can help their news meet new audiences.
Helping creators get clear about their ethics, integrity
Part of the appeal of creators is how authentic they feel — they’re like a smart friend on your social feeds. However, the low barrier to entry has also led to potential ethical issues and lacking credibility.
A new UNESCO report published late last year found that 63% of influencers “lack rigorous fact-checking protocols, despite their significant impact on public discourse.” The report also found that nearly 60% of creators don’t understand all the regulations and legal implications of being an informer.
These findings, alongside our survey with Nelson at Project C, highlight a continued need for further research and training around ethical best practices for creators. We want to complement the work already being done in this area — like the Knight Journalism Center course around how to be a trusted voice online — and deepen creators’ knowledge so they can make their ethics and integrity clear to their audiences.
We want to adapt the transparency strategies we know work in newsrooms so creators can:
- Articulate the ethics and goals behind their work
- Explain how they decide what to cover and what not to cover
- Get clear about how they fact-check information
- Consistently attribute where they get their information and explain how they know it’s true
- Address misinformation head-on
- Equip their audiences to confidently navigate the news
We’re excited to share that some of this training is underway. Our partner in this work, Project C, is launching a new 6-week creator journalism workshop that includes a module taught by Trusting News’ Lynn Walsh to help creators develop a personal ethics statement and transparency practice and learn how to combat misinformation and build audience trust.
Trusting News is also planning other upcoming programming in this area, and we’re excited to share more of that soon. Subscribe to our Trust Tips newsletter to get alerted when we have new trainings and programs.
If you’re a journalist or newsroom interested in plugging in with this work, or if you are interested in funding this work, reach out to Trusting News at info@trustingnews.org or Project C at liz@projectc.biz.
Helping newsrooms embrace creator-style content
We want to help traditional journalists in newsrooms learn from the successes of creators. This includes guiding journalists on how to adapt their content and products to better engage people who tune out of the news or feel unplugged from civic life more broadly, as creators have so effectively done.
We’ve already shared some strategies from content creators we hope journalists are paying attention to: How to replicate content creators’ tone and style of reporting news and how they format their content. We plan to continue highlighting creators’ trust-building strategies and infuse our trainings with stand-out examples from influencers to help newsrooms meet new audiences where they are.
We also know collaboration will be critically important here, with newsrooms and creators leaning on each other. That means we want to help newsrooms find like-minded, responsible creators in their communities who have established audiences and are open to content sharing and other forms of partnership.
The American Press Institute has been digging into this work and just wrapped up a pilot program focused on helping newsrooms create collaborations with local influencers. Their team is getting ready to share actionable learnings in a partnership guide, which will include guidance on everything from how to create a sustainable partnership strategy to navigating legal implications and more. Stay tuned and subscribe to API’s Need to Know newsletter to get updated as these resources publish.
What’s next?
As the demands for trustworthy and ethical information only increase, we’re eager to continue deepening our knowledge and best practices for both the news industry and individual content-creator journalists.
As we train and experiment alongside newsrooms and creators, we know our own strategies and best practices will continue to evolve, and at Trusting News, we’re committed to learning in public by sharing what we’re learning along the way. If you’re interested, the best way to get these updates is to subscribe to our weekly Trust Tips newsletter.
We also know a key part of this will be humility — for all sides. We implore journalists to decentralize their own role in the news and loosen the grip of what constitutes being a news provider. And we encourage creators to take their role as informers and influencers seriously.
We hope as we move into a new year that we spend less time assessing who has the right to be called a journalist or informer and instead, put our effort toward making sure our communities are equipped to navigate and find credible information.
If you’re a journalist or newsroom interested in plugging in with this work, or if you are interested in funding this work, reach out to Trusting News at info@trustingnews.org or Project C at liz@projectc.biz.
At Trusting News, we learn how people decide what news to trust and turn that knowledge into actionable strategies for journalists. We train and empower journalists to take responsibility for demonstrating credibility and actively earning trust through transparency and engagement. Learn more about our work, vision and team. Subscribe to our Trust Tips newsletter. Follow us on Twitter, BlueSky and LinkedIn.
Project manager Mollie Muchna (she/her) has spent the last 10 years working in audience and engagement journalism in local newsrooms across the Southwest. She lives in Tucson, Arizona, where she is also an adjunct professor at the University of Arizona’s School of Journalism. She can be reached at mollie@trustingnews.org and on Twitter @molliemuchna.
Executive Director Joy Mayer (she/her) founded Trusting News in 2016 after a 20-year career in newsrooms and teaching. She lives in Sarasota, Florida, and can be reached at joy@TrustingNews.org.
