Trust
what builds credibility and what risks eroding it
Trust is what makes an audience believe a newsroom: the credibility it builds over time and the actions that can wear it down. For a media organization, trust is slow to earn and quick to lose. A team might pause here to look at what they do that earns it and what quietly puts it at risk.
Questions to explore
- What do we do that earns our audience's trust, story after story?
- Which mistakes would damage our credibility the most?
- How do we handle errors once they are published?
- Where might our audience doubt us, even when we are right?
- If we use AI in our work, how do we keep that from raising doubt?
Expert voices
“Audiences say they want AI labels, but research shows they trust content less when labels are shown. Test how different transparency levels affect credibility before committing.”
“Several studies show audiences do not trust content produced with AI, even when it is transparently labeled as such.”
“As trust in the wider information ecosystem erodes, audiences trust your content less too. Media must take a grander, shared responsibility for preserving trust in media as a whole.”
“How does your audience feel about AI? Would they hate it if they found out you were using it?”
Things to consider
- Trust is built slowly and can be lost in a single careless call.
- How you correct a mistake says as much as the mistake itself.
- Being open about your methods, including AI, tends to protect credibility.
Pull Trust when it is relevant and set it aside when it is not. Pair it with the other Organisation cards, lay them out on a table, and use the questions above to get everyone on the same page. Capture what you discuss on sticky notes or in a shared doc.
More Organisation cards
