Why the Trusting News Project is aiming to better understand public trust in journalism

With President Trump’s continuous attacks on the media, and a number of news organizations struggling to stay financially afloat, a need to better understand the public’s perception of news and their willingness to pay for it has emerged.

As part of the most recent phase of the Reynolds Journalism Institute’s Trusting News project, 28 partner newsrooms asked their audiences about their views on the credibility of news through an online survey. Participating newsrooms included the Cincinnati Enquirer, Dallas Morning News, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Fresno (Calif.) Bee, Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the Ogden (Utah) Standard-Examiner. Results can be found at trustingnews.org.

“It’s important to remember that a lot of the public really don’t understand what we do. There are many people who think that journalists sit in a room and decide altogether what information to report and what information to suppress,” said Joy Mayer, project director. “They don’t trust us and that distrust is based in a lot of big misconceptions.”