Today’s trusted news platforms aren’t always the most traditional
Once upon a time, people believed what they read, heard, or saw in the news. Producing a newscast or printing a newspaper was expensive! There was a certain level of prestige and respect that came with journalism. But now, anyone with a keyboard can create a website and call themselves a news outlet. Major networks previously held in high esteem are perceived as “ratings or click-bait obsessed” or politically slanted. And today’s trusted news platforms aren’t the newsstands of yesteryear.
The beauty of the internet is that people can find anything they’re looking for. The downside of the internet is that people can fall into an echo chamber that only feeds them what they want to see.
It is interesting to see how different people receive and seek out their news. For example, one recent survey in the UK suggests that TikTok is the fastest-growing news source among adults. But another survey says TikTok is the least trusted news source. So then, are people choosing to seek out news from a source they don’t trust?
How Google became the most trusted news platform
The second survey referenced above was conducted by Reuters Institute. You can read the whole thing HERE. It sought to understand “how and why news on digital platforms is viewed more skeptically versus news in general.” In it, researchers discovered that Google is perceived as the most trustworthy news platform. More than half of Americans (53%) said they trusted news from Google. Meta’s two big platforms, Facebook & Instagram, performed the poorest. The survey only looked at online platforms and did not consider things like TV and print.
But let’s talk about that. Google itself isn’t a media outlet. It is a search engine. And that might be why it performs so well. If you go to news.google.com, you’ll see multiple versions of the same lead story from different sources grouped together. It is more like a modern newsstand than an outlet itself. There’s even a “fact check” bar on the right-hand side of the screen.
But, why are these the stories at the top of my “top stories” page? How do my internet viewing habits in general affect the algorithm of news being fed to me vs. someone on the opposite side of the country or world? Or someone with different political beliefs or lifestyles? Are we seeing the same news sources? Could it be that Google is the most trusted platform because it does the best job of feeding people what they want to see? Certainly news site SEO and browsing habits play a part in curating news for any single individual.
Publicists should consider how different audiences receive their news
This survey proves why publicists need to consider how different audiences receive their news. One thing that countless surveys prove: fewer young people are picking up freshly printed newspapers to see what’s happening in the world. Many of them don’t watch TV either. Digital outlets reign supreme and they have for a while now, especially with millennials & Gen Z.
Overall, the Reuters study found that trust in news platforms is lower than trust in news overall. Yet, most people get their news from platforms. So, you’ll have to look at individual audiences of individual news sources to decide which media outlets are the best to target for PR-related earned media stories.
GenZ vs Boomer news consumption
One thing that is important to point out before wrapping this up, there is a huge difference in how GenZ vs the Baby Boomer generation consumes their news. Younger people are generally more trusting of social media platforms. This is probably because they grew up with it, understand how algorithms work and know the red flags to look out for when it comes to scams and “fake news” headlines and sources.
Digital Reigns Supreme
Almost half of the people surveyed by Reuters said they get their news online every day. That’s huge! And it is why digital PR placements are so critical to our industry today. People who are younger, people who are higher educated, and people who are interested in politics are more likely to get their news via online platforms. In a lot of cases, these are the same demographics that many businesses seek to target as their consumer base and something to consider.
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