Distrust in the media and in politicians: could it somehow be healthy?

And how to win back the confidence of readers

“We, the People” have discovered a new and gentle art of political resistance: telling surveyors how little we trust media and politicians.

See my article in The Conversation for more.

Pundits described as “alarming” and “shocking” a survey that showed a decline in trust in media and news in New Zealand. And Newshub’s Paddy Gower typified the critics of news media as “enemies”.

But most of the feedback reported in the AUT survey was reasonable, revealing that people are observant and critical. Many said that much of the news is inherently depressing and negative (notably at the moment Gaza), although the media have a duty to inform us about it nonetheless.

On national politics, however, there’s an incentive for media to accentuate the negative, even when things aren’t that bad (for example the press gallery’s feeding frenzy over Michael Wood’s shareholdings). Aside from cock-ups or tragedies that actually happen, reporting is often framed sensationally or negatively and/or with a ready-made political slant. One matter I’ve commented on before was misleading reporting of political polls, which appeared to arise from putting attention-grabbing headlines ahead of sound statistical analysis, disadvantaging one party in particular.

Respondents in the survey (87% of them) rated the news as “biased and not balanced”, and it’s worth paying attention to consumer feedback, because the people aren’t the enemy.

Now, it’s not possible to be perfectly objective and balanced when reporting on unfolding political events. Many journalists do work hard to be balanced; some think they’re on a mission. Some consider themselves to be a national treasure.

While the country swung to the right in the last election, most media display a left-wing bias. Many on the left, including the journalists themselves, may not notice this, however, because they take that point of view for granted. There are some, of course, notably Newstalk ZB, that are more right-wing.

It’s not hard to fathom the overall left bias in media. People with more conservative values are less likely to get into journalism, preferring instead fields such as agriculture and finance. The same applies to academics, but in universities the left bias is stronger because academics have little incentive to engage with a politically diverse real world, whereas journalists have to do so daily. Once a person starts receiving pay-checks in their chosen occupation, moreover, its institutional values become ingrained.

Media audiences and university students, however, are diverse in their values and political ideas, and people will often resist being told what to think.

Underlying the recent fuss about distrust in media and politicians is a conceptual error that’s reinforced by the surveys themselves. In real life, trust isn’t a “thing” you can measure. It doesn’t work on a one-dimensional scale of 1 to 10.

Trust is relational, reciprocated and multi-dimensional. Surveys, however, have an unspoken assumption: “more trust is good; more distrust is bad”. No surveyor can tell you what the optimal trust-level is, because there isn’t one, and yet people get alarmed when a survey reports declining levels of trust.

But it’s rational not to trust media and political parties. Why?

People need to use their critical faculties and not just accept all that they read, as any philosopher or scientist could tell you. Moreover, history has taught us to be very sceptical about anyone who wields political or informational power. Just think of dictators and propaganda. And now the internet gives people alternatives, including Substack. Yes, many of those alternative voices are misleading or even harmful, but this is the world that journalists and politicians now have to contend with. They should lead by setting the best examples, not by lowering standards, nor by trying to change that world.

If it weren’t for a long history of healthy distrust and dissent (not to mention civil wars and revolutions), we wouldn’t have democratic constitutions, separation of powers, periodic competitive elections and a free press.

Although representative government means that we entrust powers to a few people, a healthy democracy is founded paradoxically on distrust in anyone who wields power. You may be trustworthy today, but can we trust you once you get your hands on the levers of power? No, we can’t, and we don’t. We limit those powers and keep a watch on you.

A free press is part of that democratic accountability, but the informational power wielded by the media is also a cause for rational distrust.

If media organisations want to retain and win back the confidence of their audiences, then they should welcome the people’s sceptical feedback – rather than be alarmed by or dismiss it.

It’s patronising to pontificate about how our distrust is a threat to our democracy when a healthy democratic culture depends on our being eternally sceptical.

Newshub’s Paddy Gower declared that he simply won’t listen to the critics, typifying them as “enemies” and as right-wing keyboard warriors, while claiming that his news operation is a precious taonga. No wonder people get turned off. It’s a majority that are expressing distrust in the news, not just a rabid minority on X.

The immediate concern, however, is for those in the industry who will lose their jobs – some of whom I know, and they’re great people. There must be ways to boost advertising or subscription revenues and find willing investors. Hopefully something new will emerge, but it’s worth reading what CEOs in the industry are saying.

Regardless of how much people trust or distrust the media, variety and diversity are needed. Balanced reporting, rather than partisan activism, is essential for restoring trust, however, and this requires (among other things) wider knowledge of political ideologies, political history, the system of government and how it works, and statistically informed understanding of polling.

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Media self-obsession on full display this week: