This weekly Trust Tips newsletter shares quick, actionable tips for how journalists can earn and sustain trust. Subscribe to get it in your inbox at trustingnews.org/newsletter.
Talk about your ownership and funding
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Recent research from Jacob Nelson at the University of Utah shows people’s distrust of the news industry largely stems from a perception that journalists value profit more than the truth.
In an article for The Conversation about his research, Nelson writes that people felt “news organizations report the news inaccurately not because they want to persuade their audiences to support specific political ideologies, candidates or causes, but rather because they simply want to generate larger audiences — and therefore larger profits.”
While of course news organizations need revenue to stay in business, clearly there’s a disconnect between the public service we as journalists aim for and what the public perceives about our integrity and intentions. This disconnect between journalists and the public is one we talk about a lot at Trusting News.
We believe one of the foundational steps to bridging this perception gap is for newsrooms to get clear about their business model and if it influences coverage. In today’s newsletter, we’re sharing three strategies for how journalists can do this.
Resources: Our Trusting News team has been investing in helping journalists get more transparent about their ownership and funding: We hosted a free training last week (watch the replay here) and recently published a Funding Trust Kit, which is a step-by-step newsroom guide.
1. Get clear about who owns you — and if they control content
Newsroom ownership has been making national headlines recently due to Jeff Bezos’ overhaul of the Washington Post’s opinion content.
While it’s not uncommon for owners to weigh in on opinion content, it can be problematic when people assume owners have the same level of oversight and sway when it comes to straightforward news content. But as journalists, we can help change these assumptions by explaining our ownership and getting clear about how much control they have over content.
Here’s a great example of how station KCRG did this: In a column, news director Adam Carros clarified how the station is owned by Gray TV but still maintains full editorial independence.
We recommend you include this information on your About Us page — like the Christian Science Monitor does here — and pull out parts of your policy in daily coverage or social media, especially when people are questioning the motivation behind your coverage.
As journalists, we’re told to follow the money. So why don’t we reward people’s curiosity when they wonder who controls our own money?
2. Share how you make money
As much as you’re able, get clear about how you make money. For some newsrooms, this might look like simply listing your sources of revenue, such as: we’re funded by a mix of subscriptions, sponsorships and advertisements.
But if your organization allows it, get even more specific. Here’s how LINK nky recently did this. In an opinion column, they shared their overall budget for 2024 and then broke it down by revenue and income.
President and CEO Lacy Starling writes: “As a business owner, I’ve always believed in transparency in my organizations, but being a leader of a company that belongs to the community requires even greater openness. Because we ask for support from the community, y’all deserve to know exactly what we’re doing with the money you entrust to us.”
3. Explain what being an affiliate or chain means
Spell it out for folks. If your station is an NBC affiliate, you don’t have any control over what happens on the “Today” show. Please remember that it’s reasonable for the average viewer to not automatically know that — it’s all coming through on the same channel.
Be transparent about what an affiliation means, but also be clear about the limitations. You could also provide information on how people can get in touch with shows you air but don’t have control of.
Take inspiration from this piece from our partners at WITF, explaining how an episode of “Morning Edition” comes together.
What’s next?
We know money can be tricky to talk about (or to get approval to talk about). If you’re a journalist or in newsroom leadership and you need some guidance on how to get on the record about your funding, we have resources to help.
- You can check out our Funding Trust Kit here, which includes language you can copy and use to explain your business side and to ask your community for financial support.
- Rewatch our recent training where we walk you through how to get on the record about your funding and ownership and how to disclose when funding might influence coverage.
You can also reach out to our team directly anytime by replying to this email, or by getting in touch LinkedIn.
If you’re already doing this type of transparency work around your funding, please reach out! We’d love to see examples (you can use this form to submit examples).
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.
