Trust in news reporting from traditional media is soaring at the expense of social media. So says new research from the Oxford Reuters Institute.
The rise of fake news and toxic political views being given the same prominence online as more credible news sources has damaged the trust we may have once held in these platforms.
So what does this mean for PR teams?
Media relations has been at the heart of good PR campaigns for decades. Yet for many working in the industry, they have all but forgotten how to engage with our traditional media. Social first seem to win out.
Social media is not going to go anywhere and will continue to play an important role in influencing behaviours.
But, for brands where trust is paramount - professional or financial services for example - it is perhaps time to revisit the 'old fashioned' media relations handbook.
The Oxford University research found that only 23 per cent of people around the world trusted news on social media, compared with 44 per cent who trusted news overall. The proportion of people who used Facebook as a source of news dropped to 27 per cent in the UK, down two percentage points in a year. In the US, it was down nine points to 39 per cent. Researchers suggested that consumers were eschewing Facebook because of concerns about unreliable news and “toxic” political debates.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/the-times-is-most-trusted-national-newspaper-r0tr7zfmz
