Media and Trust: A Global Concern

Opening Context and Historical Baseline

• The session references the 1974 launch of All the President's Men and the era of Walter Cronkite, when major media outlets were considered infallible truth-tellers, contrasting sharply with today's fragmented trust landscape.
• The modern media crisis is attributed not to the internet itself, but to the "abuse" of the technology by bad actors and the democratization of publishing which allows inaccurate or false information to proliferate.

Regional Media Landscapes and Challenges

• Philippines (Maria Ressa):
  • Data reveals a stark divergence: 86% of Filipinos in the real world trust traditional media, while 83% on social media distrust it.
  • 97% of Filipinos access the internet via Facebook, making the platform the de facto internet and primary vector for attacks.
  • Rappler's data identified an organized "shark tank" of attacks, with hate messages averaging 90 per hour for a single journalist in October 2016.
  • A specific network of 26 fake accounts successfully disseminated content to 3 million users, utilizing a demographic-specific ecosystem (e.g., "sexy singer-dancer" Mocha Uson, appointed to lead presidential social media in April 2017).
  • Freedom House reported in November 2017 that "cheap armies" on social media had rolled back democracy in 30 of 65 countries studied.
• Singapore/Regional (Warren Fernandez):
  • The Straits Times moved significant content behind a premium paywall early in the year, resulting in rising subscription numbers from a demographic including many young people.
  • Despite general drops in media trust, specific data shows trust in journalism specifically has increased, suggesting audiences seek reliable voices and are willing to pay for quality.
  • The core challenge is identified as a "revenue challenge" rather than a readership challenge, driven by the shift of digital ad spend to Google and Facebook.
  • Journalism is defined as the "purposeful pursuit of information," which is fundamental to democracy and the solution to fake news.
• Hong Kong/Asia (Victor Mallet):
  • Mallet disputes the notion that traditional media has become monolithically "left-wing," citing the dominance of Rupert Murdoch's right-leaning outlets in the UK, Australia, and US as counter-evidence.
  • The primary failure of traditional media is a lack of connection to the "heartlands" of nations (e.g., failing to predict Brexit or Trump's victory due to reporting from metropolitan bubbles rather than rural areas).
  • Press freedom in Hong Kong is under significant pressure, illustrated by the Chinese government's attempt to ban the Hong Kong Independence Party and pressure the Foreign Correspondence Club to cancel a legal event.
  • Ironically, the Singapore Straits Times published an article analyzing the loss of press freedom in Hong Kong, a reversal from two decades prior when Hong Kong media analyzed Singapore's situation.
• United States/General (Jerry Baker):
  • Baker argues that media distrust stems partly from the journalism community itself, which holds a "progressive left-of-center worldview" among 80-90% of US journalists.
  • Newsrooms are geographically clustered, with 80% of journalists in major US metro areas (NYC, DC, SF, LA), creating "hermetically sealed liberal environments" that alienate the conservative heartland.
  • There is a noted lack of "ideological diversity" in newsrooms despite high emphasis on other forms of diversity, leading audiences to perceive news as biased.
  • The decline in trust predates social media and is linked to the professionalization of journalism in the 1960s/70s, where the role shifted from reporting "what happened" to telling audiences "what to think."

Structural and Technological Shifts

• The Business Model Crisis: 97% of new digital ad spend in Great Britain goes to Google and Facebook, effectively removing the traditional advertising revenue stream needed to fund investigative journalism.
• Algorithmic Distribution: Social media platforms have shifted power from "old gatekeepers" to "new power" machines and algorithms that exploit cognitive biases and prioritize content that triggers engagement, often at the expense of accuracy.
• Echo Chambers vs. Serendipity: Traditional print media offered "serendipity" where readers encountered uncomfortable but necessary viewpoints; social media algorithms create echo chambers where users only see content confirming existing beliefs.
• Weaponization of Information: Fake news has been "weaponized" by state actors and political campaigns (e.g., Russian intelligence agents, domestic political bots) to influence outcomes and discredit institutions.

Audience Q&A Insights

• Polarization as a Feature: Some audience members argue that trust is high but polarized; audiences trust media aligned with their views (e.g., Fox News vs. CNN) while distrusting opposing outlets, suggesting a "trust in media" metric may be artificially inflated if not disaggregated.
• Causality of Distrust: The panel agrees that distrust in media likely preceded Trump's rise and was a primary driver for his voters, rather than Trump creating the distrust.
• Historical Comparison: The 1960s/70s media environment featured fewer outlets with a monolithic authority, whereas the current fragmented landscape allows alternative viewpoints to flourish but also dilutes the "voice of God" consensus.

Panelist Concluding Remarks

• Maria Ressa: The solution requires acknowledging that power has shifted to tech platforms which have adopted "mob rule" via algorithms; government hearings and platform accountability are necessary.
• Warren Fernandez: Trust must be rebuilt by journalists physically engaging with audiences, demonstrating they are part of the community, and responding to the audience's desire for interaction rather than just one-way broadcasting.
• Jerry Baker: Despite current stress, the industry has survived previous crises (1930s, 1960s); the path forward relies on "plug away" commitment to scoops, holding power to account, and leveraging improved language skills in global bureaus.
• Stephen Salia: Concluded by warning against the resignation to government control of media, noting that open information exchange is essential for market stability, innovation, and political accountability.