Strategies for building trust in news: What the public say they want across four countries

This report investigates what the public wants and expects from news media when it comes to trustworthy journalism, drawing on original surveys collected in the summer of 2023 in Brazil, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The report examines how different segments of the public are receptive to a variety of approaches to repairing trust in news. These approaches range from editorial practices and transparency initiatives to reforming the way newsrooms are led and managed as well as the way news outlets engage with the public. Findings suggest that broadly audiences favour each type of approach, but that particular efforts are especially prioritised by different subgroups. This is especially the case with respect to newsroom diversity and concerns over one-sidedness in coverage. Different segments of the public raise distinct concerns in these areas and want see news organisations take different steps toward solving these issues

“Fair and balanced”: what news audiences in four countries mean when they say they prefer impartial news

Impartial news, or news without a partisan slant or overt point-of-view, is overwhelmingly preferred by news audiences worldwide, yet what such preferences mean remains poorly understood. In this study, we examine what people mean when they say they prefer impartial news. We draw on qualitative interviews and focus groups with 132 individuals in Brazil, India, the UK, and the US, conducted in early 2021. Our results show while the idea of impartial news is widely embraced in abstract, ranging from notions of reporting “just the facts” to more nuanced views about how feasible impartiality is to achieve, there is no shared understanding of impartiality in practice. People’s perceptions of impartiality are rooted in two intertwined folk theories: the notion that news production and editorial decisions are guided largely by (a) partisan political agendas or (b) commercial considerations, determining what stories were chosen, ignored, or crafted in order to deceive and manipulate. There is some country variation around the importance of these folk theories, but their recurrence suggests that demonstrating impartiality to audiences requires convincing them not only that news content is balanced but also that editorial decisions were not driven by ulterior motives

A quem se dirigem os editoriais? Um estudo acerca de personagens e instituições mencionadas pelos jornais O Estado de S. Paulo e Folha de S. Paulo

A literatura sobre jornalismo político indica que aqueles agentes ocupando cargos de maior hierarquia tendem a dispor de maior cota de visibilidade no noticiário. A fim de esclarecer as relações entre o cargo ocupado pelo agente político ou o fato de tratar-se de uma instituição e o grau de visibilidade do qual se dispõe, este artigo busca compreender como funcionam os parâmetros de escolha editorial, por meio de mapeamento das personagens e instituições mencionadas por 185 editoriais dos jornais O Estado de S. Paulo e Folha de S. Paulo sobre o Congresso Nacional. O trabalho propõe três hipóteses: H1 – há correlação positiva entre tratar-se de uma instituição e a quantidade de menções recebidas nos editoriais; H2 – há correlação positiva entre ocupar cargo nos campos político e econômico ou no Judiciário e a quantidade de menções recebidas nos editoriais; e H3 – uma vez que os editoriais compondo o corpus tratam do Congresso Nacional, as duas Casas (Câmara e Senado) e os agentes integrantes do Legislativo são os mais mencionados pelas peças. Para testar as hipóteses, utilizou-se estatística descritiva. Também se aplicou um teste-t, uma regressão múltipla e observou-se o valor-p para os dados. Apenas a primeira hipótese foi confirmada por completo, enquanto a segunda foi refutada e a terceira foi confirmada em parte. Os dados contradizem a literatura sobre jornalismo político. Apenas agentes políticos muito poderosos, a exemplo do presidente da República, obtêm visibilidade nos editoriais, pois se priorizam menções a instituições. Assim, o jornalismo político praticado nos editoriais dirige-se a agentes políticos detentores de poder de decisão ou a instituições significativas para a democracia e para o sistema político do país, tornando o acesso à esfera de visibilidade pública ainda mais restrito

A quem se dirigem os editoriais? Um estudo acerca de personagens e instituições mencionadas pelos jornais O Estado de S. Paulo e Folha de S. Paulo

A literatura sobre jornalismo político indica que aqueles agentes ocupando cargos de maior hierarquia tendem a dispor de maior cota de visibilidade no noticiário. A fim de esclarecer as relações entre o cargo ocupado pelo agente político ou o fato de tratar-se de uma instituição e o grau de visibilidade do qual se dispõe, este artigo busca compreender como funcionam os pará‚metros de escolha editorial, por meio de mapeamento das personagens e instituições mencionadas por 185 editoriais dos jornais O Estado de S. Paulo e Folha de S. Paulo sobre o Congresso Nacional. O trabalho propõe três hipóteses: H1 ”“ há correlação positiva entre tratar-se de uma instituição e a quantidade de menções recebidas nos editoriais; H2 ”“ há correlação positiva entre ocupar cargo nos campos político e econoÌ‚mico ou no Judiciário e a quantidade de menções recebidas nos editoriais; e H3 ”“ uma vez que os editoriais compondo o corpus tratam do Congresso Nacional, as duas Casas (Cá‚mara e Senado) e os agentes integrantes do Legislativo são os mais mencionados pelas peças. Para testar as hipóteses, utilizou-se estatística descritiva. Também se aplicou um teste-t, uma regressão múltipla e observou-se o valor-p para os dados. Apenas a primeira hipótese foi confirmada por completo, enquanto a segunda foi refutada e a terceira foi confirmada em parte. Os dados contradizem a literatura sobre jornalismo político. Apenas agentes políticos muito poderosos, a exemplo do presidente da República, obtêm visibilidade nos editoriais, pois se priorizam menções a instituições. Assim, o jornalismo político praticado nos editoriais dirige-se a agentes políticos detentores de poder de decisão ou a instituições significativas para a democracia e para o sistema político do país, tornando o acesso à esfera de visibilidade pública ainda mais restrito

How Important is Twitter to Local Elections in Brazil? A Case Study of Fortaleza City Council

Studies on the effects of the internet on elections have revealed how Social Network Sites (SNSs) are used by citizens to learn about, choose and contact their representatives. This article analyzes 27 Twitter accounts managed by Fortaleza's city councilors who ran for reelection in October 2012. The study aimed to discover the importance of Twitter in the councilors' campaign strategies: what kind of messages were sent by the councilors who adopted digital communication strategies to their followers, and the relationship between party affiliation and e-campaigns. The article shows that communitarian sociability, understood as face-to-face relations or interactions among individuals, affects how the internet is used in local campaigns, since there is no direct relationship between electoral success and the heavy use of Twitter by candidates, at least in proportional local elections (which are defined as cases in which candidates do not necessarily need to reach the votes of a majority of constituents, but only a part of them). However, those who adopt a digital communication strategy use it to broadcast their political platforms and promote their campaign events. Finally, except for small left-wing parties, there appears to be no relationship between party affiliation and e-campaigns

The Electoral Misinformation Nexus: how news consumption, platform use, and trust in news influence belief in electoral misinformation

Electoral misinformation, where citizens believe false or misleading claims about the electoral process and electoral institutions—sometimes actively and strategically spread by political actors—is a challenge to public confidence in elections specifically and democracy more broadly. In this article, we analyze a combination of 42 million clicks in links and apps from behavioral tracking data of 2,200 internet users and a four-wave panel survey to investigate how different kinds of online news and media use relates to beliefs in electoral misinformation during a contentious political period—the 2022 Brazilian presidential elections. We find that, controlling for other factors, using news from legacy news media is associated with belief in fewer claims of electoral misinformation over time. We find null or inconsistent effects for using digital-born news media and various digital platforms including Facebook and WhatsApp. Furthermore, we find that trust in news plays a significant role as a moderator. Belief in electoral misinformation, in turn, undermines trust in news. Overall, our findings document the important role of the news media as an institution in curbing electoral misinformation, even as they also underline the precarity of trust in news during contentious political periods

News for the powerful and privileged: how misrepresentation and underrepresentation of disadvantaged communities undermines their trust in news

This report draws on 41 focus groups with marginalised and/or underserved audiences in Brazil, India, the UK, and the US to examine how differences along lines of race, caste, religion, class, and place affect perceptions of trustworthy journalism. We highlight commonalities among participants rooted in distinct experiences, needs, and expectations that lead them to perceive news as representing their communities negatively, unfairly, stereotypically, or in divisive or altogether absent ways entirely. In some countries, grievances around deficient or harmful coverage were often intertwined with perceptions of the news media as extensions of broader power structures and impressions of journalists as privileged and out of touch. Finally, we show that many saw news media as intentionally mistreating people from disadvantaged communities while consistently catering to other more powerful audiences, and we summarise what participants recommended as possible solutions for building or restoring their trust

Dietary Environmental Footprints and Their Association with Socioeconomic Factors and Food Purchase Practices: BRAZUCA Natal Study

The analysis of dietary environmental impacts has proven to be an important tool for guiding the adoption of healthier and more sustainable diets. This study aimed to estimate the dietary carbon (CF), water (WF), and ecological (EF) footprints of residents in the city of Natal, Brazil; the study also aimed to verify their association with socioeconomic factors and food purchase practices. This is a cross-sectional study that used dietary data from 411 adults and elderlies, which was collected via a questionnaire that applied to the respondents. The results showed that the dietary CF was 1901.88 g CO2 eq/day/1000 kcal, the WF was 1834.03 L/day/1000 kcal, and the EF was 14.29 m2/day/1000 kcal. The highest environmental footprint values showed an association (p ≤ 0.05) with the factors of male sex, white ethnicity, and higher income and schooling, whereas the lowest environmental footprint values were associated with social vulnerability variables such as female sex, non-white ethnicity, and lower income and schooling (p ≤ 0.05). Moreover, people with lower environmental footprints consumed less fast food, had fewer meals at snack bars, and used food delivery services less often than those with higher footprints. The foods that most contributed to the CFs and WFs were beef and chicken, while fish and beef contribute the most to the EFs. The data in the present study show that a diet with a lower environmental impact is not always equal to a sustainable diet. This relationship is paradoxical and relates to food justice, as people with lower environmental footprint values are the same ones with worse socioeconomic conditions. In this sense, is it essential to consider the influence of the social context when assessing dietary environmental impacts and when assessing actions that promote healthier and more sustainable diets

Flowchart of the study selection process.

Flowchart of the study selection process.</p