Trust in Journalism

Trust is the friend." - Unknown

Simple but important quote.

Trust is important in any job, any setting, any relationship, and any setting. Trust builds a network and a bond between people. People are great assets. When you do not build that trust, you miss out on valuable information.

In school, I recently did a role play between the law school, PR department, and journalism.  The role play was about a bunch of lawyers who were representing a case regarding a medicine company who did not clearly label the risks of the drug. The lawyers presented their release and the journalists (the group I was in) asked questions. Our questions often came off as deceiving. We seemed to come off as an attacker but yet we were trying to find the truth.

We did not get to talk before hand so our trust was limited. We barely knew each other and had to go off initial impression.

There will be times you do not get to know your source before the story. More often than not, you will do stories that you do not get to know people. So how do you build trust?

Trust is important because you can build negotiations skills, you can know the source is telling the truth, you build a relationship, and the source and the journalist can understand each other better. These may get you better information and a better story.

Always start with your simple questions and be friendly and encouraging. Always begin with How is your day? If a source says they are having a bad day, be human. Ask why and how you can help. Even ask if the source would rather meet another day if your story will let you.

As you get the relationship established, ask those harder questions as the interview goes on. If you begin tough, you scare the person away. If you notice the source is having trouble with a question, encourage him, rephrase the question, and let him now you are listening. Listening is a hard technique. Not only do you prove by a head nod but you must rephrase and offer encouragement. If a person feels you have their best interest, you will get the best story. And they will let you put those heartfelt moments on camera because they feel they can trust you in crafting their story.

And if you can and will be working on a story that will take weeks and months to produce, try to build that relationship. Meet without the camera a few times. Coffee, lunch, or whatever you can do to truly know your source. Get to know them. Your story quality and journalistic ability relies on it.
Now once you establish this trust, it is important to craft the story using the correct portrayal. Make sure you understand what a person is saying. For example, say I was doing a story about Devon Miller (made up character for purpose of example) who lost a home in a tornado. She is sad, mad, and confused about her loss. She says that God must have punished her for her actions. Don't say: Devon Miller is sad she can't trust God... She didn't say that. She said she was mad and sad at something, not necessarily God. Clarify and make sure your story will want to make your source want to do another story in the future. And make sure your viewers understand and can trust that you gave them the best and correct portrayal. Because if your source isn't happy, worst thing she can do is call your boss and your boss makes you publicly admit your error - there went your trust.

Don't lie. Always tell the source what you are doing. If you are interviewing her because you need information about a bad choice a company made, do not just say I want to talk to you about the company. Tell her / him the full plan and keep no secrets. Trust is ruined by lies and secrets.

I can go on about trust. I can also go on about the art of crafting a good story. I cannot stress the importance of trust in any interaction.

Journalism is a people business. We serve the people. We interact with people. If we cannot trust our people and the people cannot trust us, we have failed at our career.