TrustingNews.org // joy@TrustingNews.org // lynn@TrustingNews.org
At Trusting News, we’re often asked by newsrooms how we know our strategies work. And it’s an important question.
We’re always happy to point to examples of what newsrooms say is effective as they strive to demonstrate credibility and earn trust. But we’re also especially grateful when we have the chance to work with academic researchers who can isolate strategies and create new knowledge about how the public perceives journalism.
Through a series of focus groups, Trusting News and the Center for Media Engagement found that TV newsrooms can build trust with their audiences by explaining why a story is covered, providing additional resources at the end of stories and inviting audience participation.
Read the full research report
The focus groups featured news content from WCPO, an E.W. Scripps owned station in Cincinnati and a Trusting News newsroom partner. The goal of the focus groups was to determine how TV news audiences would perceive the addition of the following trust elements:
- An introduction that described how and why the story was reported
- Information that encouraged audience participation or provided resources at the end of the story
- A description of the station’s overall mission for the story, provided in the middle of the report (for example, explaining that the station covered a story about a police officer’s arrest because he is in a position of power in the community).
The focus group participants compared two versions of the same story and discussed them at length. They watched news clips from actual WCPO broadcasts. They also watched a new version of each story that included the trust elements mentioned above, which the station’s journalists created with support from Trusting News.
Watch the videos
According to the Center for Media Engagement, the results suggest that news stations should:
- Explain why the story is being done and make it clear why the explanation is being provided.
- Encourage audience participation or provide additional resources at the conclusion of the story.
- Keep these trust items brief and to the point.
“Participants noted that the news clips with trust items seemed more complete and relatable,” the research found. “Several participants used phrases such as ‘personal connection’ to describe why they preferred these versions of the clips, even though they could not immediately identify what was different about them.”
Explain the “why” of the coverage
For the reworked stories, WCPO used Trusting News strategies to add language to the beginning that explained what the story was going to be about and why the coverage of that story was important.
For one story, the introduction explained it was a “story about local people sharing their personal experiences to help others.”
According to the research, “people who liked these explainers saw them as a way for the station to explain why they were doing the story.” One focus group participant noted this part of the story made her feel like WCPO cares about her community.
“For me, it made it feel like they were talking specifically to me. Like, ‘Hey, I want you to know what’s going on. I want you to know what happened in this story, and here are the facts,’” she said.
Another said the explanation would make him trust the TV station more.
“They’re hitting all the bases,” he said. “They’re explaining why — they clearly state their mission. Clearly state the reason for the news story, and all those things are kind of like trying to build rapport with the person that are the audience. So yeah, I would definitely trust them more and would watch them more.”
Encourage audience participation
At the end of the news stories, Trusting News added information to encourage feedback or provide additional resources related to the story's subject matter.
One story included an email address and phone number so people could contact the TV station about future community events. In the police officer story, viewers were provided with a domestic abuse hotline number.
According to the research, “in both cases, participants felt this addition improved the story, and, in some cases, made them trust the station more …Multiple participants noted that the domestic violence hotline number was helpful for the police officer story, and it made them feel they trusted WCPO more.”
One focus group participant said:
“I like that they — at the end of the second video — they opened it up kind of to the community. Hey, what do you want to know about? We’re not going to just keep telling you or shoving information down your [throat]. Tell us what we want — what you want to know about?”
Keep trust elements brief
The research showed that a minority of the focus group participants thought the trust elements added unnecessary information. While it was a minority that felt this way, it is worth noting that when added trust elements to an on-air product, it is recommended to keep the trust elements brief and to the point.
It is also worth noting that not every story you produce may need a trust element. When thinking about when to add these layers of transparency, focus on stories where you can explain an ethical decision you made or talk about why it’s important to report on the story in the first place. Try to anticipate what pushback or misassumptions viewers might make about the story, and proactively address them. Then keep the language direct and to the point.
Scripts
Below are the scripts for the stories. The highlighted text is what was added by Trusting News.
STORY: CLIFF EFFECT
ANCHOR INTRO
NOW, A STORY ABOUT LOCAL PEOPLE SHARING THEIR PERSONAL EXPERIENCES TO HELP OTHERS.
REPORTER LUCY MAY EXPLAINS HOW A LOCAL ORGANIZATION IS GIVING WOMEN WHO HAVE EXPERIENCED POVERTY THE POWER TO HELP OTHER WOMEN OVERCOME IT.
PKG
THESE DAYS MARY MOSS IS A SUCCESSFUL COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE PROFESSIONAL.
SHE WORKS AT THE GE BUILDING ON THE BANKS.
BUT SHE REMEMBERS THE STRUGGLE GETTING TO THIS POINT, WHERE EVEN THE SMALLEST RAISE ACTUALLY COST HER MONEY BECAUSE IT MEANT SHE COULD NO LONGER RECEIVE GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE.
(SOT)
Mary Moss, property assistant, NAI Hiffman: (2:02:56 - 2:03:09 on SKW-6428_01) "You want to advance, you want to move up, you want to make more money. But if I get one dollar raise then, oh no, I'm going to lose my health insurance or I'm going to lose my child care vouchers."
(LUCY STANDUP)
(2:41:46 - 2:41:56 ON SKW-6432_01) "When someone loses more money in benefits than they gain from a pay raise, that huge financial drop is called the cliff effect."
(VO)
AT WCPO WE WORK TO GATHER THE MOST COMPLETE INFORMATION AVAILABLE ABOUT THE ISSUES IMPACTING OUR COMMUNITIES, ESPECIALLY WHEN WE HEAR ABOUT SITUATIONS LIKE THIS THAT MIGHT BE SURPRISING TO VIEWERS. SO, WE SPOKE TO THE WOMEN'S FUND OF THE GREATER CINCINNATI FOUNDATION WHICH STUDIES THE CLIFF EFFECT.
(SOT)
Meghan Cummings, executive director, Women's Fund: (2:26:44 - 2:26:57 ON SKW-6430_01) "A lot of times what we see is even someone gets a raise, maybe even just $2,000 a year, it could trigger a public benefit cut off of about $14,000 a year so that raise didn't make them any better off."
(VO)
CUMMINGS SAYS THE WOMEN'S FUND DECIDED TO ENLIST WOMEN LIKE MOSS - WHO HAVE LIVED THE CLIFF EFFECT - FOR A NEW ADVISORY COUNCIL.
THAT COUNCIL DECIDES HOW TO DISTRIBUTE $50,000 IN GRANTS TO LOCAL NONPROFITS THAT HELP WOMEN WHO ARE WORKING TO BECOME SELF SUFFICIENT.
(SOT)
Meghan Cummings, executive director, Women's Fund: (2:28:55 - 2:29:05 ON SKW-6430_01) "We thought it was really important that we ground our work in the experience of these women, and how can we respond to that through all parts of our mission, especially in our grantmaking decisions."
(VO)
MOSS IS ON THE ADVISORY COUNCIL.
A MOTHER OF THREE, MOSS HOPES TO HELP OTHER WOMEN FIND A SMOOTHER PATH THAN SHE TRAVELED.
(SOT)
Mary Moss, property assistant, NAI Hiffman: (2:08:17 - 2:08:30 on SKW-6428_01) "Those, let's say, who haven't experienced what I have or maybe they are going through it, I'm someone that can help them. I'm someone that can give them that knowledge, that can guide them, can answer their questions."
(VO)
MOSS SAYS THOSE PERSONAL CONNECTIONS CAN BE THE BIGGEST HELP OF ALL.
LUCY MAY, NINE ON YOUR SIDE.
ANCHOR TAG
COVERING ALL OF OUR COMMUNITY IS A PRIORITY FOR US AT WCPO.
IF THERE ARE PROGRAMS, EVENTS OR STORIES YOU THINK THE COMMUNITY SHOULD KNOW ABOUT, LET US KNOW.
WE HAVE A FORM ON OUR WEBSITE WCPO.COM OR YOU CAN ALWAYS MESSAGE US ON SOCIAL MEDIA, SEND US AN EMAIL AT NEWSDESK AT WCPO DOT COM OR GIVE US A CALL AT 513-852-4071.
------------------------------------------
STORY: LEBANON OFFICER
ANCHOR
NEW AT 5 -- A LEBANON PATROL OFFICER HAS BEEN ARRESTED FOR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.
VO
THE LEBANON POLICE CHIEF TELLS US OFFICER JOHN WETZEL WAS ARRESTED BY CLEARCREEK TOWNSHIP POLICE LATE SUNDAY EVENING.
HE’S ACCUSED OF LOADING A SHOTGUN WHILE INTOXICATED AND MAKING THREATS AGAINST HIS WIFE AND HER BOYFRIEND.
THE OFFICER WAS OFF-DUTY AT THE TIME.
LEBANON'S POLICE CHIEF SAYS WETZEL IS ON ADMINISTRATIVE LEAVE... PENDING AN INVESTIGATION.
ANCHOR
AT WCPO WE THINK CAREFULLY ABOUT WHAT CRIME STORIES WE COVER.
BECAUSE THIS INVOLVED A POLICE OFFICER, SOMEONE WHO HAS POWER AND AUTHORITY IN OUR COMMUNITY, WE FEEL IT IS IMPORTANT FOR THE COMMUNITY TO KNOW WHEN THEY ARE INVOLVED IN VIOLENT CRIMES.
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR CRIME COVERAGE POLICY VISIT WCPO.COM/CRIME
ANCHOR
ALSO, IF YOU OR ANYONE YOU KNOW ARE EXPERIENCING ABUSE IN A RELATIONSHIP PLEASE CONTACT THE DOMESTIC ABUSE HOTLINE 1-800-799-7233.
Support for your newsroom
If you’d like to talk about how your newsroom could act on this research, feel free to email me at lynn@TrustingNews.org. And find some quick, actionable steps you could take in our weekly newsletter, Trust Tips.