Our end-of-year “Predictions for Journalism” package has grown and grown and grown since its first iteration back in 2011. For the 2019 iteration, we published more than 200, and it’s possible I am literally the only person alive to have read all of them.
So over the next few days, we’ll be running what I’m calling Prediction Playlists — collections of predictions centered around a particular theme. Hopefully they’ll give you a point of entry into what can be an intimidating pile of #content. Today’s theme: trust and transparency.
In data journalism, publishing the data and code you used to create a project is a growing best practice. But what happens if no one wants to check your work?
Soo Oh, a data visualization reporter at the Wall Street Journal:
If journalists want to succeed, they need to be more comfortable with the idea that more engaged readers will push back against their work more often. That’s the price of engagement.
Nicholas Jackson, editor-in-chief of Pacific Standard:
Reporters and editors need to be more thoughtful about their decisions, their internal processes, and how their own status impacts the work that they do.
Nikki Usher, associate professor at George Washington University and the University of Illinois:
As we rely more on readers to pay the bills, being transparent about reflecting their experiences and interests will be key to building relationships.
Charo Henríquez, senior editor for digital transition strategy at The New York Times:
Yes, we need to build trust with our audiences — but don’t forget most newsrooms have to do the same with their own employees, who have been put through the ringer by the industry’s decade-plus of disruption:
Key to audience trust is better measuring journalism’s impact on their lives; too often the societal benefits of the work journalists do stays hidden.
Patrick Butler, vice president of the International Center for Journalists:
Growing trust isn’t just an issue for journalists — it’s a two-way street. The idea of increasing our audiences’ media literacy is something it’s easy to be cynical about, but it’s also something that can work.
Mike Caulfield, head of the Digital Polarization Initiative at the American Democracy Project:
Perhaps there’s a technological solution: Salem Solomon sees potential in using AI and better internal practices to prevent corrections before they’re necessary.
Salem Solomon, a digital journalist at the Voice of America’s Africa division: