Strengthen Community Trust
Trust shapes whether people engage with your work and support your station financially. In a crowded information environment, it’s increasingly important to help your community understand how you operate, what values guide your decisions, and how people can connect with you.
Local public media organizations are well positioned to earn trust — but it doesn’t happen automatically. It requires clarity, transparency, and intentional engagement.
Trust Resources
We partnered with Trusting News to offer a practical workshop series designed specifically for local public media stations. Each session shared examples and strategies, followed by discussions on how to apply them in your own organization.
Stand out as a credible information sourceIn a crowded information landscape, it’s increasingly hard for the public to tell responsible information apart from the noise. Journalists can make it easier for them — and guide them through navigating the news — by explaining how they operate and shining a light on their ethics, integrity and processes.
How to build trust while asking for financial supportWhen it comes to asking for financial support, news organizations need to tell a powerful story about the values that drive their work and the value they offer their communities. See examples of how to do that across topics and platforms, and workshop what to highlight about your own work.
Build authentic trust with newsletters and social platformsPlatforms like newsletters and social media can offer exciting formats for earning trust. When news teams engage less formally and build connections, they can participate authentically in a creator-driven ecosystem and reach new audiences.
Engage effectively with your audience — and be responsive to what you hearThe media ecosystem offers opportunities for a continual feedback loop between news teams and the people they aim to serve. Learn how to do a more effective job seeking, engaging with and being responsive to audience input.