Subscribe
for just...
plus
I recently read the latest report from Reuters Institute about 'trust', and like the other reports they have made, it's excellent. Reuters Institute is doing such a good job studying the media industry.
However, every time I read a report about trust in the media, there are a number of things that become immediately apparent. I'm not talking about the reports themselves. I'm talking about how we in the media talk about trust.
So in this 34-page Plus report, I'm going to give you my analysis of the trust problem, and my solution, based not only on what I have learned over the past 10 years being a media analyst, but also what I know about trust working outside the media industry.
Because ...well... to put it simply, the way we talk about trust is weird. Trust is not what people in the media think it is.
Whenever I see a report about trust, there are three problems that emerge.
The first problem is that many publishers see trust as an externalized factor. That somehow trust is about Facebook, politicians, or fake news, or hundreds of other externalized factors that, if they would just go away, we would be trusted ... again.
But this is not what trust is about at all (and I will get to why later in this article).
This, however, then links to the second problem, which is that many publishers also believe that they should be trusted by default simply because they are "the news". In other words, we are still seeing an incredibly high level of institutional entitlement. That, because we are the press, we are somehow entitled to be trusted without question or scrutiny (no matter whether that is fair or not).
Again, this is not what trust is. Nothing in society works that way. No industry, and no profession lives in a world where trust is given by default.
Register to try out Baekdal Plus completely for free for one week.
Baekdal Plus is your premium destination for trends and analysis for the media industry. Every year you get 25 reports about the future media trends, business and editorial strategies, monetization analysis and insights about how to use analytics specifically for publishers.
As a subscriber, you also get full access to all the Plus reports (more than 200) published over the past 8 years, as well as the ability to share what you read.
Yes, of course, please write to plus@baekdal.com and I will send you a regular invoice that you can pay via your bank. I will need your company name, address and VAT number (if within the EU). Also, please note that due to this process being manual, this will be for an annual subscription only.
Yes, please write to plus@baekdal.com for details. But for 25-99 users: the price is 20% off the subscription price ($79/year per user), 100+ users is a fixed price at $5,000 (for all combined).
Yes, please head over to Baekdal Media to read about consulting where I can help you with strategy reviews, trend and strategy reports, and strategic guidance for you media company or a specific publication.
How do we define relevance? We look at what people are doing.
Free for subscribers
...or full access for $12
Free for subscribers
...or full access for $12
Climate change coverage needs a different focus, otherwise we lose our audiences
Free for subscribers
...or full access for $12
Free for subscribers
...or full access for $12
Solve one problem, to solve all of them.
Free for subscribers
...or full access for $12
Churn is something you have to manage long before people even subscribe
Free for subscribers
...or full access for $12
Free for subscribers
...or full access for $12
When publishers want to engage with their audiences, are they really unengaging them instead?
Free for subscribers
...or full access for $12
Only about 15% of the public pays for news, so how we do convert the remaining 85%?
Free for subscribers
...or full access for $12
Free for subscribers
...or full access for $12
Founder, media analyst, author, and publisher. Follow on Twitter
"Thomas Baekdal is one of Scandinavia's most sought-after experts in the digitization of media companies. He has made himself known for his analysis of how digitization has changed the way we consume media."
Swedish business magazine, Resumé
plus
plus
plus
plus
plus
plus