Experts neglect how people trust in their everyday lives when evaluating trust in media, writes the Mirror’s editor-in-chief in a blog for The Media Leader
With the idea of ‘trust’ receiving growing industry attention, Phillips argues it has become easy to forget what the concept actually means on a personal level.
“What irks me is how easily trust is thrown around in conversations, and in studies and reports in such a removed way”, she says. “It just seems that the way trust is evaluated by many experts is too abstract and therefore removed from reality.”
Phillips goes on to emphasise how trust is often confused for simply not knowing enough about a person or a brand: “I can’t give an opinion about whether I trust somebody that I don’t know and never have. That just wouldn’t make sense.”
She adds: “When I relate this back to the media industry the same philosophy rings true. Somebody for instance who doesn’t read a particular news brand, or watch a particular TV channel, is not well-placed to comment on how trusted that media is.”
The Mirror editor-in-chief calls for more honesty around how we define and analyse trust, and for media brands to be “more personal, authentic and related to the people that matter to you”.
Read Alison Phillips’ full blog for The Media Leader here.
