Who do consumers believe?
A new survey looks at the level of trust people have in news reports and the way the public would like dishonest statements by public figures to be handled
Consumers of news — readers and viewers, as they used to be called — often question why news organisations are willing to publish palpably false statements from politicians. Or at least they question it on social media, and it’s often because it’s a statement or politician that a reader will personally have an issue with. EFF leader Julius Malema has been the poster child in this regard in the past, but he’s been sadly mute the past few weeks.
In my past life as an editor I took criticism for publishing columns by people who were either rampant populists or dodgy politicians, and there was never a blanket rationale of access to information that sat comfortably with everyone...
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