How do we *earn* trust? Joy Mayer, Engagement Strategist

Disregard last submission!

How do we earn trust? Joy Mayer, Engagement Strategist

Participants:
Linn Davis: Healthy Democracy
Mike Fancher: “retired” superstar
Jake Batsell: social professor of journalism at SMU. Author.
Joe Barr: Chief Content Officer at Capital Public Radio/oversees music.
Sarah Alvarez: Outlier Media, texting high-value info to Detroiters
Linda Shaw: Seattle Times
Lisa Hayamoto: teaches journalism at UO. Holds community engagement workshops.
Summer Fields: engagement consultant at Hearken, writes about “diversity” in public media.

Results:
How can journalists earn trust?
Questions for us to ask: Where do I put my ear to hear what’s happening at the grassroots?
What language do we use?
How do I know that transparency is what the audience wants? Figure out what they want to know.
What gives you credibility?

Concrete steps to take:
Studying cognitive bias.
Talk about what, why, how we do things and repeat.
See trust as what needs to be earned.
Relationship is 2-way trust.
Get reporters back into the communities to use language people use.
Be trustworthy!
Process-driven answers to audience queries about stories: don’t feel the need to give mini reports.
Think about how race and class organize society.

More notes:
How do we earn trust?

Will we change our routines to be trustworthy?

transparency: what we do, how we do it. Who are the people doing the news? sides to story? how do we decide what to cover?

clear explanation of process. demystify pre-publication. tell people why we do what we do.

“This story took a month. It was worth it because…”

Show your work. Make intentions clear in the lede. Not just findings. e.g. NYT daily presenting news + sausage making.

have a phone number and a front door.

just cover what people say they care about! e.g. Hearken model, bit.ly/hearkenstories

conflict-driven reporting over impact.

death of expertise. lack of trust in authority.

Is “the media” journalism?

personalization: you’re talking to/working for me! Solution to broader dismissive tone issue, just talking to audience?

branding self as journalist vs. just being someone you can trust,.

do our digital tools serve us?

earn trust through social. emphasize relevance. see Joy’s trusting news project part 1.

overcoming competition in service of newsroom collaboration. elevate trust in other institutions through sharing work.

not just trusting journalism: institutions, democracy, each other. open the pipeline. journalists as intermediaries.

be willing to suspend values. share your platform and the ability to agenda set with the public.
Build trust collaboratively. Not just try to “earn.”
Engagement is like dating — Joy’s piece on Poynter (http://www.poynter.org/2017/how-building-trust-with-your-audience-is-like-dating/450592/) Don’t ask for more intimacy that you’ve earned. Validate participation. No shortcuts to showing up.

Trust is an ongoing project! Don’t assume you won’t have to repeat your efforts. E.g. Newsy explaining why they used the term “American Indian” in a DAPL piece in the FB comments for the video. Shows a hunger for cultural competency can be filled by journalists. Here’s the original post where the reporter clarified: https://www.facebook.com/newsyvideos/videos/vb.49978948774/10153921959023775/?type=2&theater

Dismantle hard news bias: cover little things, know the “little folks” in your community.

Professionalization of journalism + lack of resources = killer

Earn trust through empathy.

Who is trusted now outside of news?
Libraries! Local papers, if not “news” broadly. Local congressmen, but not “congress” broadly. Being able to verify with own eyes helps.

When will newsrooms trust communities?? It goes both ways. Joy’s survey was delivered locally but in it the “media” is assumed to be national.