Narrative: The Hard Work of Authenticity and Trust #smchat #contentseries WED Feb 13 1pEST

Posted on February 12, 2019 by Chris Jones

Most of us can remember a time when the news was curated by seasoned professionals. Career journalists and their editors built and defended a solid perimeter (if not a wall) to protect the truth. It was a barrier difficult to get past without confirmed sources.

In the transformed, super-hyped world of digital media, PR and news have evolved into uncomfortable bed-fellows.

A quote commonly attributed to P.T. Barnum is that there’s no such thing as bad publicity, a notion that served well for circus promotion. But it can do significant damage when left unchecked in mainstream media.

As we covered in our annual #smchat #trends series in January, fake news surrounds us now, fueled by political intrigue. But amid forces of culture and our increasingly absent critical thinking, similar trust issues are likely to show up in other places. Advertising has always warranted a certain cynicsm in consumers, a “trust but verify” mindset. But with trust in media eroding, brands will not be immune.

What can be done?

Rather than simply beating the drum on this, let’s pose a different question: what is our responsibility as content creators?

In this week’s #contentseries we’ll pivot to some of the great input raised in the Jan 9 “Q2” thread re: #content and #fakenews, transcript here.. Has the immediacy and convenience of news and content on social media trumped traditional journalistic notion of truth itself? What does that mean for brands?