Author: Jim Boren
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Here are 10 things that newsrooms can do right away to improve their image with the public
There are many challenges facing the news business these days, but sometimes newsrooms ignore the simple things they could do to build a more trusting relationship with the public. Here’s a short list of improvements that media companies can make immediately to help restore trust and credibility. Fix your customer service, including having editors, producers,…
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Students support the First Amendment, but favor some limits to free speech
A national study of high school students suggests that their views of protected speech are evolving. The survey by the Knight Foundation is the eighth in a series of polls commissioned over the past 12 years. While 89 percent of students support the right to express unpopular opinions, only 45 percent of students believe people…
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Journalist Robert Costa underscores the crucial need for Fresno State’s Institute for Media and Public Trust
Washington Post national political reporter Robert Costa, who also hosts “Washington Week” on PBS, says the work that Fresno State’s Institute for Media and Public Trust is doing on media literacy is crucial in building trust in our institutions and creating a better-informed society. Costa was in Fresno Nov. 27 as part of Fresno State…
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New survey reveals the growing challenge of identifying fake news in an era when many don’t trust media
If you hate the media, you’ll be less successful at identifying fake news headlines, according to a new survey of media attitudes. This latest research was conducted by the News Co/Lab at Arizona State University in partnership with the Center for Media Engagement at The University of Texas, Austin. Researchers, who surveyed 4,854 people in Fresno, Kansas City and…
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Wanted: News consumers armed with critical thinking skills and media outlets that want to connect with them
Imagine when you started your day, everyone you met listened carefully to opposing arguments, believed that media outlets across the political spectrum are fair and reliable, and the critical thinking skills of the public were so well-developed that they would never fall for fake news stories. Can you envision that scenario in our nation today?…
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Visit to rural California offers chance to find out why many elected officials in small towns don’t trust the news media
Updated on Sept. 25, 2018 I have been looking for opportunities to extend the reach of our Media Institute, so I quickly accepted the invitation to speak to a group of California rural elected officials at their annual meeting last week in Napa. The Rural County Representatives of California wanted to know how the…
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What will it take to rebuild trust between media outlets and disaffected news consumers?
One of the key goals of the Fresno State Institute for Media and Public Trust is to come up with concrete ways to improve the trust and credibility gaps between news organizations and news consumers. We are working on strategies that we believe will help during this divisive time in our nation’s history. Trust is…
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Forum on free speech, related issues planned for Fresno State Sept. 17
The Fresno State Institute for Media and Public Trust’s initial program will be a First Amendment forum that will explore free speech issues on campus, and how tenure, collective bargaining agreements and academic freedom impact the issue. The program is scheduled from 6 to 8 p.m. Sept. 17 in the Peters Educational Center on the…
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First Amendment widely supported, although most don’t know what’s in it
An annual survey of attitudes about the First Amendment found that a vast majority of Americans support the amendment and the freedoms it guarantees. But most Americans who responded to the survey were unaware of what the specific freedoms are. Clearly, we need to emphasize our history more in high school and college. We are…
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Use these tips and you’ll reduce your chances of passing on ‘fake news’
Have you ever forwarded a news item to friends on Facebook only to later learn from them that the item was phony or “fake news?” It’s embarrassing, but you can avoid sharing phony stories by taking a few simple precautions when assessing news content. These tips are very basic tools and can help you in…
Institute for Media and Public Trust at Fresno State 