Five news products to help your newsroom garner trust with your community

This article was produced as part of the NPA Summit 2022 student newsroom. Learn more about this year’s students and the event.

It’s no secret that there can often be a lack of trust in the communities they cover and journalists. And in some areas, it’s getting worse.

Lynn Walsh, the assistant director for Trusting News, and Sharon Moshavi, the president of International Center for Journalists began their session at the 2022 News Product Alliance Summit by looking at data from the Edelman Trust Institute to showcase how the public’s trust in journalists has decreased over time.

According to the institute, journalists are only slightly more trusted than government officials, but less trusted than business CEOs and scientists.

“You can do the greatest journalism in the world,” Moshavi said. “[But] if people aren’t trusting you, we have work to do.”

Luckily, it’s not all bad news. Building trust can occur at five different steps of the news creation process, Moshavi said. She shared her approach to gaining trust from readers during the 2022 News Product Alliance Summit.

1. Editing

The editing process is one of the most crucial steps in many articles. But that’s a side of journalism that readers rarely have access to. By informing your audience of the decisions made while reporting – such as why and how your newsroom is covering the issue – journalists can foster trust with your community. 

One way to do this is with a “explain your process box,” Moshavi said newsrooms can incorporate a sidebar or graphic to communicate all of the factors that went into reporting on an issue in an easily digestible manner. 

The box has been used by outlets like USA Today, the Tennessean and the McClatchy publishing company, who all surveyed their audiences and reported an increase in trust perception or engagement. The University of Texas released its research on these approaches.

And when it comes to writing the copy for the boxes, it’s best to keep it streamlined.

“Shorter is better,” Walsh said. “You can always link to a longer explanation if need be.” 

2. Reporting

There were two products recommended by Sérgio Spagnuolo, the founder and managing editor for Volt Data Lab to increase community trust: open source, open methodology curated lists, like the Global Conflict Monitor or Monitor Nuclear Pro. 

The lists aid reporters in quickly getting information about breaking events and political news, respectively. The product creates a shared audience understanding of how to find reliable information on Twitter, which then allows journalists to use the reliable information in their reporting. 

These products are free to use and the lists are comprised of Tweets, curated by a formula that weighs engagement, interaction and overall profile retweets.  

3. Distribution

Channels like newsletters and social media can also be used to demystify parts of the reporting process for our readers. The intimacy already imbued in newsletters can allow for a better personal connection to readers and can seem more genuine to an audience.

The Seattle Times used both social media and newsletters to give readers a peek behind the curtain on some of its investigative work.

The amount of editorial decisions made in the reporting needs to be shared. News organizations shouldn’t shy away from telling readers what it took to get information in a story and how it came together, Walsh said. She also added that some reporters created Twitter threads where they went in-depth on their process of reporting and writing a story. 

4. Branding and Marketing

When building trust, sometimes, it’s the final presentation details that are the most effective.

This can take the form of clearly labeling opinion content and articles and ensuring those labels are carried onto social media platforms. Not every reader will understand the difference between an editorial and a letter to the editor and news organizations should take into account readers who don’t know journalism lingo. 

Walsh recommended newsroom leaders provide additional context about who an opinion article represents and why that writer is qualified to weigh in on the issue. This can be simple – a small blurb under the byline – but improves credibility for the writer and for the newsroom, she said.