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In an age where distrust of news media is at an all-time high, what can outlets do to regain trust and connect with audiences outside their usual viewership?
While Donald Trump convinced Americans to vote for him with promises to fix the economy, immigration, and enforce tariffs – voters’ interest in these ideas appeared to spike post-election.
According to Google Trends, searches for the term “tariff” rose after the election, as did queries about “Trump’s tariff plan” – with searches rising more than 1650 percent since the election. Searches for “who pays tariffs” rose 350 per cent since the election.
Credit: Google Trends
Does this demonstrate that news media failed to make clear the terms of a Donald Trump second presidency? And/Or that news media failed to reach audiences outside their normal reader and viewership?
In an age where distrust and dissatisfaction with the news media is at its highest, what can news outlets do to regain trust and appeal to new audiences without alienating existing readers and viewers?
Meet people where they are. Those in their 20s, 30s, and 40 are digital natives. They soak up news through bite-size content – vertical videos, UGC, memes, and headlines. Social media’s role in news dissemination has grown significantly. In 2023, Pew found that nearly half of all U.S. adults rely on social media for news.
Storyful can help publishers create content with casual news consumers in mind. Storyful helps by delivering only the most credible, relevant content directly to your team, freeing up time for journalists to focus on storytelling.
Don’t compromise on facts. Twitter/X owner Elon Musk is well publicized as crediting his platform for aiding Trump’s re-election. Under Musk’s leadership, however, X has shifted to a “free speech” model, which critics say has allowed misinformation to flourish. The platform is still one of the most visited social media platforms on the planet.
Storyful has a wealth of knowledge in this space. Our expertise means we can spot misinformation, verify the truth, and provide accurate and unbiased reporting directly to newsrooms.
Build trust through news coverage outside of politics. Oversaturation of content in a world that never stops recording is a problem faced by newsrooms across the world. It can be hard to know what to trust and prioritize, expand on, and diversify in coverage.
Storyful operates as a first filter between used generated content and newsrooms, providing insight and context through sourcing, clearing, and verifying footage that is timely, visually strong, and gettable. Storyful builds local networks with journalists on the ground and within local communities, which has been fundamental in our coverage in conflict zones including Gaza and Ukraine.
If your newsroom is struggling to expand its audience. Storyful can help. To learn more or request a demo, reach out today at publishers@storyful.com.
