ABSTRACT
Chapter 6: News in crisis: The crisis of legitimacy: As the amount of fake news increases, and as more politicians resort to the argument that the news media distorts their message, public trust in the news media declines in almost equal proportion. However, in this chapter we also argue that the crisis of trust and legitimacy is the result of journalists and their institutions not addressing audience concerns and, in fact, taking audiences for granted. Trust is a very human trait that displays itself in our interactions with news sources and journalists. While we have been tracking this declining trust over two decades, it is now reaching crisis point. The statement ‘Trust me, I’m a journalist’ is now met with laughter and contempt. As a result, audiences are increasingly turning to social media spaces and platforms to have their own news conversation either with or without the participation of established news sources. The news establishment has sought to intervene in social media channels in order to regain control of the news narrative, but it appears to be failing to do so. This is despite the effort expended by the news industry in developing audience ‘engagement’ strategies and nearly a decade of efforts to harness social media to their business models. This has economic, ethical, and philosophical implications for journalists and journalism. The chapter concludes that the trust deficit is difficult to overcome without drastic action, including a rethink of journalism’s core values.
