Some useful BSA research
While I am not a fan of the BSA appointing itself as chief censor of the Internet, I do like some of the research they have produced. The annual survey of offensive words is always interesting, and they have just done a survey about trust in media which is interesting. They find the following factors that makes a news provider trustworthy:
- Reporting supported by credible evidence 69%
- Unbiased reporting 66%
- In-depth reporting 64%
- Prompt correction of mistakes 63%
- Stories show all perspectives and are balanced 62%
- Accurate headlines 62%
- Opinion and news are separate 62%
And the other way is the factors that make a news provider untrustworthy:
- Clickbait headlines 70%
- Not correct errors 69%
- Too much opinion 64%
- Too much attack journalism 61%
- Ads pretending to be news 60%
Now looking at those lists, it is no surprise why trust in media is so slow.
We see clickbait headlines all the time. Media are notoriously slow to correct errors. TV news always has reporters share their opinion, mixed into the story. And even I am often taken in by advertorials, as the disclaimer it is sponsored content is often hard to spot.