With trust in media a hot topic at present, the subject was on the agenda at last week’s Radiodays Asia conference in Kuala Lumpur.
 
While there has been much discussion of the journalistic requirements for building trust, not a lot has been said about how trust needs to be part of the fabric of the whole media organisation, not just the newsroom or the social media team.
 
SBS Australia’s Content Manager Mark Cummins told a Radiodays session about what SBS is doing to build trust.
 
“SBS is one of the most trusted organisations in Australia…and (a survey) confirmed that radio is one of the most trusted mediums… However media is in the top five industries for negative trust scores.”
 
In attempting to build trust, the SBS asked:

 
“We came up with the SBS trust initiative, where every touch point with all stakeholders either maintains or builds on trust.  We include trust across all operations and interactions… not just from a content perspective,” he said.
 
SBS developed six categories of practical initiatives across the whole organisation, including a simplified credentials check tool for content makers where the qualifications of a spokesperson are checked against a set of standard verification points. It is a simple point, but too often a spokesperson makes it on to the tv or radio because they were put up by a publicist or they came up in an internet search, so the SBS protocol seeks to remind producers and journalists to verify the credentials of who will speak.
 
Cyber security and privacy training is also an important initiative, as is a better way of dealing with and tracking interactions with the public so that responses are consistent and correct.
 
The initiatives came out of discussions between all staff at all levels to identify the most important trust elements for a media organisation in the modern environment. Cummins presented six categories in his presentation:

1. Regular tracking and reporting of external survey on trust.
2. Codes of Practice review on publication of comment, USG  and opinion.
3. Journalistic tools: Simplified credentials check tool for content makers
4. Audience Customer Service tool – for a ‘single view of customer record’
5. Cyber security and data privacy training for all staff
6. Internal communications review amplifies transparency and trust between business units and people.

Also in the session, the Manager for Traxx FM at Malaysia’s national broadcaster RTM, Haida Baba Zain, talked about the role of trust and public broadcasting in her country:
 
“Public broadcasting is still a viable source of information, news and entertainment in Malaysia and radio is still an effective medium in reaching Malaysians.“
 
RTM has used an innovative approach to engage audiences and build trust in the medium. “We are using visual radio…as it brings the audience closer to the story.  It also allows us to reclaim an important listening environment.”
 

 
Archana Kapoor from women’s community station Radio Mewat and the Radio Festival of India pointed out that trust comes from the community. If you are part of your community and you say something wrong, they will soon tell you, so that keeps you honest.
 
“Community Radio is everything we are hearing about at this conference.  It is something that holds communities together, this is what community radio does… One of the strengths is that listeners are our content producers…they are the ones who are contributing.”
 
Community radio programs are a real catalyst for social change, according to Kapoor, because they allow people to talk freely without being judged, and in some cases without being identified.
 
“Community radio helped bring people out of their homes and out to vote,” during the recent election, she says. Community radio in India is using its power of engaging with local communities to held build public engagement and trust.