My keynote talk to the International Journalism Festival #ijf18 in thread form. The title is 'Optimizing Journalism for Trust.' 1/
In a book called 'Politics and Vision,' the philosopher Sheldon Wolin said that when there is vision, “things appear in their corrected fullness.” This helps explain what I mean by optimizing for trust in journalism. It is a vision toward which we have to move. 2/
Trust can no longer be assumed. Its continuous production has to be designed in. Nor does trust any longer follow from industry practice. American journalists used to say that you “had” credibility if you kept to the rules of good practice. That doesn’t work anymore. 3/
We have to design the modern news organization so that it is easier for people to trust it. (Which of course doesn’t guarantee that they will.) We might even say that trust has to become more agile. 4/
We also have to make it easier for people to form a tight relationship with the news sites they value. Otherwise Facebook and Google and maybe Apple News will own that relationship. 5/
It was @pilhofer who sent me in this direction. In 2016 he asked: what would a news organization look like if it were optimized, not for clicks, or for scoops, or for time-on-site, but for trust? I thought it was a good question. So I started talking about it on social. 6/
But @emilybell did not agree with me. She said the question was badly framed. In her view, trust was a “poor metric” for quality journalism. “Arguably Breitbart optimizes for trust,” she said. “So does the Daily Mail.” 7/
At first, I didn’t understand this objection. Certainly I didn’t trust Breitbart. Nor did I think it was built for trust. And yet I had to admit: its core supporters did trust it. Breitbart was optimized for them. So in a way it was optimized for trust. 8/
This made me look again at @emilybell's dismissal of trust as a “poor metric." It’s easy to get some people to trust you, if you present as news only those things that support their existing beliefs. Or if you demonize those whom they already resent, as Breitbart tends to do. 9/
So I realized that my image of a newsroom optimized for trust was incomplete. The problem is not how to generate trust by publishing news. Donald Trump does that with his Twitter feed. He offers news of his presidency that his most committed supporters welcome and buy into. 10/
In fact, there’s polling to indicate that Trump is more trusted as a source of information than the news media— by Republicans. Among this group, at least, his campaign to discredit the American press is working. 11/ monmouth.edu/polling-instit…
If by itself trust is a poor metric (because Breitbart) then the design problem becomes how to combine the high standards of verification that real journalism requires with optimizing the news organization for trust. 12/
The hard part is not to stay in business. (Teenagers from Macedonia filling Facebook pages with made-up news stories can do that.) The hard part is to stay in journalism. Which means to accept its constraints: "Did that actually happen?” And: “does the public need to know?” 13/
Now I want to unpack this suitcase I have been carrying around: the phrase “optimizing for trust.” Here are some of the items in it... 14/
When I can easily understand not only the news story I read when I clicked through to your site, but the data policy I bought into when I signed up for your site... that’s optimizing for trust. 15/
When I know that you’ll report it when it’s nailed it down, and that you’ll correct it when it comes apart... that’s optimizing for trust. 16/
When I can click on your reporter’s name and find not only her bio and archive, but where she’s coming from, and what motivates her... that’s optimizing for trust. 17/
When I can go to the “about” tab at your site, and learn not only about your mission and ownership, but also about your reporting priorities, what you’re spending scarce resources on, and why... 18/
When I can feel you getting better at listening to the internet, even as you publish on the internet…
When I can add my knowledge to yours to make for a better product….
When my attention is not grabbed but given… 19/
When I can add my knowledge to yours to make for a better product….
When my attention is not grabbed but given… 19/
When you as a reporter not only know your stuff, but show your work…
When responding to criticism, and sorting the valid from the invalid, is considered a vital newsroom skill... 20/
When responding to criticism, and sorting the valid from the invalid, is considered a vital newsroom skill... 20/
When educating people with your journalism is joined to educating them about journalism, and how it’s normally done…
When reporters share their learning curve even as readers share their expertise... 21/
When reporters share their learning curve even as readers share their expertise... 21/
When the people who value the work elect to support it financially, and want it to spread to the public it was made for...
When you not only ask supporters for money but explain how you use their money… 22/
When you not only ask supporters for money but explain how you use their money… 22/
When radical transparency combines with genuine diversity to make something better than newsroom objectivity… 23/
When all these things start happening together, and form their own newsroom culture, then we’re beginning to optimize for trust. 24/
For the past year I have been working with the Dutch site, De Correspondent, as it expands into English language publishing. They have a clear sense of how to continuously produce trust using the membership model. 25/ niemanlab.org/2017/03/jay-ro…
When I look at their design, the things I have been talking about appear "in their corrected fullness." That’s why I am helping @decorrespondent break into the American market. They have vision, in Sheldon Wolin’s sense. 26/
Today the users of journalism — the readers, the listeners, the viewers, the subscribers, the members — have more power. In part because they have more choice, and in part because they are paying more of the costs, as the advertising subsidy declines. 27/
Because the users of the product have more power, the makers of the product have to listen to them more. Increasingly the quality of your journalism will depend on the strength of your relationship with the people who use and value your work the most. 28/
'Optimizing for trust' is thus a name for the shift in imagination required if news organizations are to recognize this new balance of power between users and makers. 29/ END
