By Deborah Potter.
After more than a year of work, a commission supported by the Knight Foundation has offered recommendations for dealing with what it calls “a crisis of trust.” The suggestions are aimed at online services, educators, individuals and, of course, the news media. And many of the proposals for journalism will sound familiar to anyone who has read this site.
Practice radical transparency. The commission urges newsrooms to label content, making clear the difference between news and opinion, and “avoiding advertising formats that blur the line between content and commerce.” It advocates for best practices on corrections, fact-checking and anonymous sourcing. It urges more engagement with audiences. The report also says the media should “develop industrywide standards” for all of these practices, which strikes me as the kind of prescription that could gum up the works.
Increase diversity. Newsrooms know they need to do this. The commission says that recruitment, hiring and retention practices can increase diversity of staff and ownership. The report recommends mentorship and training programs to help newsrooms look more like the communities they serve.
Combat disinformation. Many news organizations are doing this already. They’ve ramped up fact-checking; they’ve become more engaged in pushing back against falsehoods on social media. The commission suggests using “advanced technology” to help defeat disinformation but it’s not clear what that means.
Support journalism. The commission recognizes that the financial crisis facing journalism has exacerbated the crisis of trust. It calls for increased support for quality journalism, especially at the local level. The report supports more collaboration and new models, including nonprofit journalism. Where the money is supposed to come from is unclear.
