Lack of trust in news outlets alarming for society

An important report was published last week but it may have gone unnoticed by the majority of us due to our overcrowded information sphere. The report points to people’s increased tendency for news avoidance, which has been permeating societies everywhere at an alarming rate.

The report is based on an online survey conducted in 46 markets by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, which is funded by the Thomson Reuters Foundation. It concluded that a growing number of people are selectively avoiding important news stories, such as the coronavirus pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the cost of living crisis.

Despite being a news industry practitioner, I have even found myself guilty of such behavior in recent years. But such a decline in interest in mainstream news is, in my opinion, a threat to society, its health and its prosperity. The digital age has served society well generally, but as far as informing and better educating the masses, all indications suggest we are increasingly living in times of media chaos, which is feeding fragmentation, partiality and intolerance.

For someone that made this industry his profession and passion for decades, I strongly believe that the free propagation of information is vital, whether through the classic public service-produced news, governed by charters that guarantee objectivity and impartiality, or through private sector-owned and driven media that thrive to offer consumers accurate, informative and timely news. Citizen journalism has been another addition to the fray, aided by the digital revolution, making some of us walking influencing machines capable of generating generous returns or manipulating hearts and minds on a global scale.

But such a corporate-led digital age should not avoid regulation by simply using the excuse of being a mere carrier of content, as its artificial intelligence and profit-driven algorithm is not devoid of loopholes and adversities that could impact the health of nations and the stability of realms.

While the majority of people surveyed consume news regularly, 38 percent said they often or sometimes avoid the news, up from 29 percent in 2017. About 36 percent, particularly those under 35, say that the news lowers their mood.

Alarmingly, trust in news is also declining across the globe and is at its lowest in the US. Younger audiences, the report found, are increasingly accessing the news via platforms such as TikTok and have a weaker connection to news brands, leaving 78 percent of 18 to 24-year-olds to access the news via aggregators, search engines and social media.

All this led Reuters Institute Director Rasmus Kleis Nielsen to conclude that “large numbers of people see the media as subject to undue political influence, and only a small minority believe most news organizations put what’s best for society ahead of their own commercial interest.” His observation goes to the core of the problem since, in recent times, political, commercial and various ideological interests have used the media as a weapon on the battlefield of distorting the truth or economizing it. These interests have diluted content or weaponized messages with limited or total disregard for fairness, common sense, ethics and, above all, the dose of respect for audiences that should guide their work if this essential industry is to win back those hesitant potential consumers.

Many media entities, whether public, private or even individually led, should step back to examine their role in manipulating the news and tailoring it, either innocently or maliciously, in their pursuit of ratings, cheap clicks or the whims of their patrons at the expense of the propagation of timely, accurate and unbiased news.

However, the takings from the Reuters Institute report are not all negative, as trust in the news media did apparently surge during the pandemic. Fake news and the spread of propaganda have pushed audiences to place a higher premium on accurate and reliable news that offers them a range of views and lets them decide what to think.

Messaging apps like WhatsApp and Telegram have greatly improved people’s reach in the Global South, but rendered them more at the mercy of misinformation, especially in the time of COVID-19. The biggest challenge for the media ecosystem is its future ability to connect the so-called Generation Z to trusted websites and apps, in the hope they drift away from their reliance on sometimes toxic social media outlets, news aggregators and mobile alerts.

Engendering a feelgood factor was never the cornerstone of the news industry’s mission. It was left to entertainment content creators to make audiences happier. Therefore, I can understand people switching off from what is on offer today, which resembles more of a bid to manufacture consent, influence opinion, distract, deflect or distort, and deploy information wars in a bid to control or doctor the message.

All of the above seems to be what is making people switch off, and it is understandable since newsmakers have been grappling with many challenges of their own related to their independence, rising costs and a shrinking advertising market that has instead been powering emerging digital aggregation platforms. But that should never stop our drive as both newsmakers and audiences to demand accurate information and timely content, instead of unauthenticated, often half-baked truths, even if they are packaged in a more attractive way that seems to be sating the appetite of a younger, often disinterested, consumer.

• Mohamed Chebaro is a British-Lebanese journalist, media consultant and trainer with more than 25 years’ experience covering war, terrorism, defense, current affairs and diplomacy.