FEWER people than ever trust businesses, but more place their trust in journalism, a report has revealed.

For nearly 20 years, PR and marketing consultancy Edelman has measured public trust in the media, government and business, surveying more than 33,000 people in 28 countries.

Mark Masters, of content marketing consultancy the ID Group – who is organising the Daily Echo-backed You Are the Media Conference at Shelley Theatre on May 24 – has studied the 2018 Edelman Trust Barometer.

TRUST in businesses in the UK is at an all time low and is one of the lowest scoring countries in the world. On the plus side, for those businesses who are trusted, their relationships can be magnified.

One of the main themes from the whole report is that misinformation is becoming something that is embedded within society.

Facebook have recently taken a stand by allowing users to rank the trustworthiness of news outlets. This is extremely weak when no-one takes a stand, but those who can’t tell what is true or false now call the shots.

However, trust in traditional media (publishers and broadcasters) has grown to its highest since 2012 – nearly 61 per cent of Brits surveyed.

Perhaps this suggests the importance for businesses to take on this approach. This doesn’t mean that they have to turn into news channels and expect the Twitter feed to start blowing steam, but to take an approach to go deeper and not wider.

With a big angle this past year being fake news, manipulation and scepticism. it represents a distorted world where traditional journalism comes out as a bastion for the truth (and people are prepared to pay for it).

This is an approach that businesses can take on board. It is not as hard as it looks.

The top mandates for businesses are to safeguard privacy and, in the media, to educate, inform and entertain. This is where the opportunity lies.

When it comes to reporting, this has always come from a real person who is transparent and people can see a particular point of view or style. Why not adapt this within your business? Rather than reporting, take onboard an approach of documenting the role that your business plays within the world today. This can identify where things are broken, the hope that is out there and the people who play their part.

If people are prepared to trust the media in a slew of fakeness, then people are prepared to trust businesses in a sea of sameness.

To see the speakers for the You Are the Media conference and book a ticket, visit youarethemedia.co.uk