New Eye-Tracking Research Confirms Power of Trust Indicators®

News Skeptics, Who are Most Vulnerable to Misinformation and Disinformation, Most Positively Affected Journalistic transparency elements are both read by users and significantly strengthen credibility and trust in news, according to groundbreaking eye-tracking research by the University of Georgia’s Digital Media Attention and Cognition (DMAC) Lab, the Trust Project® and DMAC announced. According to Reuters’ 2023 Digital News Report, trust in news fell by two percent across all markets in the last year, leaving a staggering 56% of people worried about distinguishing real news from fake news on the internet. In the quest to repair this erosion of trust, educating …

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ICCO

Media Stakeholders Unite in Commitment to Tackle Misinformation

The International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO) and the Trust Project, together with the support of The Council of Europe, pledged to join different sections of the media in tackling misinformation following ICCO’s European Forum, held in Strasbourg on 1st June. The pledge aims to engage a variety of membership bodies representing different sections of the media spanning PR & Communications, broadcast media, journalism, and online media. The pledge consists of ten commitments that focus on investing resources in the continuous education of employees, clients and audiences on information threats and trusted media sources. The Trust Project is an international consortium …

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Trust Project News: More sites, more funding, more people!

A warm welcome to 11 new sites and gratitude for $500,000 in new funding Today we expand our reach into community-serving and issue-oriented news with 11 new sites in the United States, Canada, Brazil and Europe. We also thank longtime supporter Craig Newmark for a generous gift of $500,000. These funds strengthen our initiatives in research, training, public outreach and technical capacity. According to 2023 data from Knight Foundation/Gallup, more than half of Americans have lost faith that news organizations put the public interest first. Such lack of trust globally has led to severe polarization, Edelman warns in its latest …

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Major Effort to Increase Trust in News Achieves Widespread Adoption

Oct. 9, 2018 –  In a concerted fight against online misinformation, 20 leading news organizations have joined the Trust Project’s efforts to increase transparency and trust in the news media, extending the reach of the global network’s Trust Indicators to 217 million people a month. As the result of this major expansion, today more than 120 news sites around the world are showing the Project’s Trust Indicators – the first transparency standard for news that helps people easily recognize the commitments and expertise behind trustworthy journalism – with dozens more sites in progress. Like nutritional labels, the Trust Indicators are …

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Santa Clara Magazine's illustration for "Trust Me," an article about the Trust Project.

Trust Project pops up in magazines and mentions

Notice anything new lately? Spring has sprung for the Trust Project, with a story in Santa Clara Magazine, and mentions in NiemanLab, Stuff, and The Chronicle of Philanthropy, just to name a few. A huge thanks for their coverage, which helps spread the word about our work to build trust and transparency in news. Here’s a quick rundown of what you’ll find in each article: Santa Clara Magazine: “Trust Me” tells TTP’s origin story, along with a good overview of our Trust Indicators and lots of insight from Director Sally Lehrman. It was co-written by Deborah Lohse, who helped us launch …

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Ozy feature on the Trust Project Director Sally Lehrman

TTP Director Sally Lehrman featured in Ozy

In this Ozy feature by Dan Peleschuk, Trust Project Director Sally Lehrman makes an important distinction about trust in news that frames today’s challenging media landscape: “It’s not about convincing people to trust you,” she says in the article. “It’s about earning their trust.” Accuracy and transparency play key roles in both building, or eroding, that trust: “It’s very important that journalists recognize the power of what we do,” Lehrman adds. “So even if we get something wrong, that has a huge impact.” Get the full story, “On the Front Line of the Battle Against Fake News,” here.

INN webinar featuring the Trust Project.

TTP’s West Coast launch celebration and panel

It was a packed house for our West Coast launch celebration and panel hosted by the San Jose Tech Museum on Dec. 12. The event, “The Trust Project: Using Technology to Restore Faith in the News,” featured Trust Project Director Sally Lehrman, and TTP collaborators Richard Gingras of Google and the Globe and Mail’s Devin Slater. Thanks to James Tensuan for the great photos!

Google’s VP of News Richard Gingras

Google VP Richard Gingras on tools for good citizenship

 Here’s a snippet from the Newseum panel “Rebuilding Trust in News” that capped our launch of the Trust Indicators in November. In it, Google News VP Richard Gingras, an early Trust Project supporter, discusses the role of platforms like search engines in helping users discover the information they need to make informed decisions. He details how the elements of the Trust Project help in this effort by providing greater transparency; distinguishing news, opinion, and analysis; and allowing platforms to see the “ingredients” of a story so that they can surface better, more relevant content.   Watch the full video …

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Trust tops journalism predictions for 2018

What does journalism’s crystal ball hold for the future? Trust Project Director Sally Lehrman, along with TTP supporters Craig Newmark (Craigslist) and Jose Zamora (Univision News), make their bold predictions for the upcoming year. So what’s in store? Read them all here: “Trust comes first” “Revenue-first journalism” “Working together toward sustainable solutions”  

The Trust Project