"In this paper, we share selected insights from our work across seven countries facing complex and often protracted preexisting humanitarian crises before the pandemic. Over the past nine months, with Internews’ Rooted in Trust project, we have worked to understand the role of rumors and misinform
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ation in the pandemic and to support humanitarian and media communicators to listen, engage and respond to community information needs. Many of the insights we offer here are derived from our research to map the Information Ecosystems in seven geographies, drawing from extensive qualitative and quantitative data (more than 2,400 survey respondents, 230 qualitative interviews and 130 focus groups). We hope these will contribute to move the community of information, public health, humanitarian aid and government practitioners towards a more sophisticated understanding of what drives and solidifies trust and away from the all too frequent dismissive judgements that played a central role in the breakdown of trust." (Introduction, page 2)
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"Building trust in public health authorities and epidemic response takes time and is an ongoing process. However, in the short term, mistrust can be mitigated by responding in contextually appropriate ways through meaningful community engagement: 1. Use social science to understand the socio-economi
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c, political and historical context [...] 2. Adapt communications to respond to the concerns of different groupsof people, using trusted sources and platforms [...] 3. Establish dialogue and create feedback systems [...] 4. Include diverse groups and listen with an open mind [...] 5. Be transparent, consistent and open, particularly about uncertainty, controversy and mistakes [...] 6. Offer compelling narratives that build a sense of capability and motivation to act." (Pages 3-4)
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"This report examines how people in Brazil, India, the UK, and the US view news media in their countries, the factors they use when determining whether sources are trustworthy, and what ‘trust in news’ ultimately means to them [...] While we note throughout the report areas of difference between
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the four countries, such as the role played by particular forms of news or individual media figures, mainly we focus on the similarities we found, which were often striking. In most cases, study participants tended to fall back on impressions of brand quality that many said were rooted in how familiar they were with a given source and its reputation established over time based on past use, perceived partisanship, or word-of-mouth. Although many spoke about the importance of accuracy and impartiality in their assessments of trust – with individual journalists typically playing a lesser or even negative role – such terms often meant different things to different people. While a minority raised concerns about representation and whether news aligned with their lived experiences, others focused on perceived political or commercial biases or their sense that all news sources were irretrievably beholden to elite agendas." (Conclusion, page 40)
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"Inwiefern hat sich Journalismus in der heutigen demokratischen Gesellschaft als Vertrauensinstanz bewährt? Was zeichnet speziell das Vertrauen in Journalismus aus, oder wodurch wird es beeinträchtigt? Die in dieser Studie vorgelegten Antworten verweisen darauf, dass Vertrauen in den Journalismus
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an seine professionelle Qualität gekoppelt ist. Diese lässt sich zu einem erheblichen Teil beschreiben als Grad der ethischen Qualität; sie umfasst ein verantwortungsorientiertes Publizieren ebenso wie eine aufmerksame Beziehung zum Publikum. Ethische Kompetenz ist der gemeinsame Schlüssel – für den Journalismus ebenso wie für sein Publikum. Geleitet von dieser Grundthese hält die Autorin ein detailliertes Plädoyer für ethisches Empowerment von Journalist_innen und Bürger_innen als Grundlage des Vertrauens in die Medien. Auch mit Blick auf die heutige „plattformisierte Öffentlichkeit“ sieht die Autorin die Notwendigkeit einer entsprechenden Weiterentwicklung der institutionellen Rahmenbedingungen der Mediengesellschaft, die sich an einem ethischen Kompass ausrichten müssen." (Umschlagrücken)
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"This report contains a range of findings about news audiences in each of the four countries [Brazil, India, United Kingdom, United States], focusing on audiences overall as well as different segments of the public categorised according to their degree of trust towards news brands in their country.
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We summarise several of the key results of our analysis here: People are more trusting of news they themselves use, including on social media, but less trusting of news they don’t use, especially news found on digital platforms [...] Many hold highly negative views about basic journalistic practices [...] The least trusting towards news tend to be older, less educated, less interested in politics, and less connected to urban centres [...] The least trusting pay less attention to and are more indifferent towards specific characteristics about how journalism is practised [...] Experience interacting with journalists is rare and familiarity with basic concepts concerning how news works is often low [...] Gaps in trust in news align with deficits in social and interpersonal trust as well as dissatisfaction with democracy." (Summary of key findings, page 8)
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"Vertrauenskrisen haben Konjunktur: Ob Politik, Wissenschaft oder Journalismus - kein gesellschaftliches Teilsystem bleibt von öffentlichen Misstrauensbekundungen verschont. Doch was genau meint der schillernde Begriff »Systemvertrauen« und welche Konsequenzen hat ein Mangel desselben? Malte G. S
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chmidt folgt diesen Fragen aus einer gesellschaftstheoretischen Perspektive. Er zeigt die sozialintegrative Bedeutung des Journalismus auf und prüft, inwieweit dieser seine Rolle als Vertrauensvermittler im neoliberalen Kapitalismus erfüllen kann. Ein ökonomisierter Journalismus - so seine These - bedingt gesellschaftliche Integrationsstörungen, die dann in Form von Autoritarismus auf ihn zurückfallen." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"Internews’ Global Tech and Europe & Eurasia teams conducted an extensive information ecosystem assessment (IEA) study in Georgia with a team of local researchers and experts. This IEA examines every region in Georgia, including minority language communities, and adopts a specific focus on social
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media and digital channels of communications in the analysis. The data collected in the study came from a national survey of 1310 individuals, 60 in-depth interviews and eight focus groups, as well as from ethnographic observations and the content analysis of over 12,000 social media posts. Findings in the report are published in three parts: Context, Infrastructure, Regulation, and Revenue; Production, Distribution, and Consumption of Information; Engagement, Trust and Behavior." (https://internews.org)
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"This report is the culmination of an in-depth investigation aimed at better defining the causes and challenges of information disorder, and offering a viable framework for action [...] The Aspen Institute’s Commission on Information Disorder invited voices from across our society to help build up
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on our understanding of the issues and our approach to recommendations. This included numerous examples of research, original ideas, draft legislation, and critical analysis from academics, policymakers, and activists—all leveraging deep, real-world experience while striving to meet the scale of the challenge. Each recommendation that follows represents a discrete, actionable idea. Though not all of the recommendations are mutually dependent, they should be considered together—they reinforce and build off one another. For instance, recommendations calling for access and disclosure support those that impose greater accountability for bad actors and, conversely, create a check on overreach. Our recommendations cover multiple areas: technology, society, government, and media. It is also important to note that, with imperfect information, we make imperfect decisions. Due to the opacity of tech and media platforms—how they operate and how they optimize their products—we do not have sufficient understanding of all the coordinated levers that could reduce societal harms while still allowing for innovation, and both individual and community benefit." (Letter from the co-chairs, page 2)
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"After a year of unprecedented disaster and turbulence – the Covid-19 pandemic and economic crisis, the global outcry over systemic racism and political instability – the 2021 Edelman Trust Barometer reveals an epidemic of misinformation and widespread mistrust of societal institutions and leade
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rs around the world. Adding to this is a failing trust ecosystem unable to confront the rampant infodemic, leaving the four institutions – business, government, NGOs and media – in an environment of information bankruptcy and a mandate to rebuild trust and chart a new path forward." (https://www.edelman.com/trust/2021-trust-barometer)
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"The survey found that 58% of Kenyans interviewed consume TV content on a typical day. This translates to approximately 16,740,493 Kenyans aged above 15 years who consume TV content. This is a drop from 74% of the respondents recorded in the 2020 survey. Across the regions, 60% of persons in North E
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astern, 57% of people in Western, 45% of people in Nyanza and 42% of people in Coast regions do not consume TV content. The average time per day spent watching TV was calculated to 2 hours. This is lower than the global average time spent watching TV, which is 3 hours, 24 minutes. Approximately 19% and 64% of the people access TV content via Pay TV decoders and free to air set top boxes. The most watched content on TV includes news, entertainment, religious and sports content, with at least 11% of all the mentions made by respondents. A total of 70% of the content consumed is on local TV content, compared to 30% of foreign TV content. Citizen TV, KTN Home and NTV had 27%, 11% and 9% of all the mentions respectively, as one of the 3 most watched TV channels by respondents. Some of the respondents could not however distinguish between KTN Home and KTN News. Across the country, radio content is consumed by 74% of Kenyans on a typical day. This translates to approximately 21,459,073 Kenyans who consume radio content. This proportion is not different from the proportion recorded in 2020 survey. The average time per day spent listening to radio was calculated to 2 hours. This is higher than the global average time spent on listening to radio, which is 1 hour [...]" (Executive summary)
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"Lack of trust is a paramount problem facing journalism. Solutions reporting, which focuses on credible responses to societal problems, could help improve news trust. In addition, narrative journalism has been associated with several positive outcomes. This study tested the novel idea that solutions
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stories and narrative transportation can positively impact news trust and story-specific beliefs. A 2 (story frame) × 3 (story topic) between-subjects factorial design experiment with a representative sample of US adults (N = 608) was used to test these relationships. Participants who read solutions stories and who were more transported had greater faith that the articles they read were fair and truthful and also indicated greater agreement with story-specific beliefs. However, analyses indicated that transportation did not act as a mediator between solutions stories and the outcome variables. Findings suggest that crafting engaging journalism stories including solutions could be good for the industry and for democracy." (Abstract)
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"This book features pathbreaking analysis from journalists and academics of the changing nature and peril of media capture - how formerly independent institutions fall under the sway of governments, plutocrats, and corporations. Contributors including Emily Bell, Felix Salmon, Joshua Marshall, Joel
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Simon, and Nikki Usher analyze diverse cases of media capture worldwide, many drawn from firsthand experience. They examine the role played by new media companies and funders, showing how the confluence of the growth of big tech and falling revenues for legacy media has led to new forms of control. Contributions also shed light on how the rise of right-wing populists has catalyzed the crisis of global media. They also chart a way forward, exploring the growing need for a policy response and sustainable models for public-interest investigative journalism." (Publisher description)
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"The overarching themes identified from the national information ecosystem analysis findings: Lack of basic infrastructure such as electricity cuts and poor/non-existent internet coverage, is a major barrier to accessing information; Pusat Internet 1Malaysia is highly in demand in rural communities;
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TV is the most trusted source of information across all locations and age groups despite digital media growth; Locally relevant news on health and community/land rights issues are the most needed information; High distrust in political news/information and politicians; Fake news is a major problem across all media and communication platforms; Influencers such as politicians, religious leaders and village chiefs affect the effectiveness in providing information to the public; Self-determination and empowerment of communities can be achieved by using hyper-local news outlets/mediums." (Executive summary, page 5)
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"This Information Ecosystem Assessment (IEA) aims to study the information environment in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) of the Philippines during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Its main objective is to explore the dynamics of information in the region. The first section
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of the report discusses the media landscape in BARMM and its implication on the supply of information in the region during the pandemic. The second section covers the information demands and experiences of communities, particularly those from vulnerable groups such as internally displaced persons (IDP) and remote populations. It also tackles the access to as well as the use and influence of information, along with identifying its trusted sources for the locals. The third section explains the dynamics between the information supply and demand from the community along with their effects on trust, influence, and behaviors. The fourth section outlines the humanitarian response to COVID-19 and the challenges faced by different organizations in their efforts to inform the public at large." (Executive summary)
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"In contemporary high-choice media environments, the issue of media trust and its impact on people’s media use has taken on new importance. At the same time, the extent to which people trust the news media and how much it matters for their use of different types of media is not clear. To lay the g
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roundwork for future research, in this article we offer a focused review of (a) how news media trust has been conceptualized and operationalized in previous research and (b) research on the extent to which news media trust influences media use, and (c) offer a theoretically derived framework for future research on news media trust and its influence on media use." (Abstract)
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"Andrea Wenzel models new practices of community-Centered journalism that build trust across boundaries of politics, race, and class, and prioritize solutions while engaging the full range of local stakeholders. Informed by case studies from rural, suburban, and urban settings, Wenzel's blueprint re
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shapes journalism norms and creates vigorous storytelling networks between all parts of a community. Envisioning a portable, rather than scalable, process, Wenzel proposes a community-Centered journalism that, once implemented, will strengthen lines of local communication, reinvigorate civic participation, and forge a trusting partnership between media and the people they cover." (Publisher description)
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"The research on audience behavior and the effects of Free Media Advocacy Campaign was conducted on a sample of 1,000 respondents, 25 to 55 years of age, and focused on the citizens’ viewpoint towards paying for media content (with the possibility of comparison to 2019 research) and evaluation of
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the campaign “Independent Media Depend on You” (IREX and Agency Communis). In terms of media consumption, respondents from 2019 generally spent more time with media than in the 2020 research. In addition, it is noticeable that respondents in both research cycles spent more time watching television and listening to the radio. The average time respondents spent per day watching television in 2020 was 108.6 minutes, while in 2019 the average time spent watching this media was 161.4 minutes. The average time respondents spent listening to the radio in the research conducted in 2020 is the same as the time spent watching TV (108.6 minutes), while in 2019, radio was the media respondents spent the most time listening to – 166.8 minutes. Social networks are the third most used media in terms of time spent on them per day (average time for 2020 – 87.6 minutes; average time for 2019 – 126.6 minutes). In fourth place are informative online portals and sites, while fifth place is print media with which respondents spend the least time per day (average time – 27 minutes). When it comes to citizens’ trust in media, it is evident that in both research cycles there is a greater distrust than a trust in the media, and this fits in the broader picture of citizen’s distrust in all civil society institutions. A total of 43% of respondents generally do not trust the media in Serbia at all – in 2020, while in 2019 the percentage was lower by two points (41%). On the other hand, a total of 22% of respondents stated that they have full confidence and that they mostly have trust in Serbian media, which is one percentage point more than in the research conducted in 2019. About a third of respondents had a neutral stance about trust in media (31% in 2020, 33% in 2019). A large percentage of respondents were not willing to pay for online content, however, when compared with 2019’s findings, SMS noticed that the willingness to pay for online content is more noticeable in 2020." (Summary)
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