Week 1
Flew (2019): Digital communication, the crisis of trust, and the post-global
Populism a binary we/they ideology is visible or as others define it, the “others of
the will of people”.
Remember Muddle’s definition: “the innocent people (“we”) against the evil elites (“them”)
- Communicative style of Populism → often appeals to the common sense, and it is prepared to engage
in an inappropriate world. Populist politicians had previously had relationships with the media (see
Silvio Berlusconi, Donald Trump)
Media and populism → “good bedfellows” – populism can only be understood within the framework of the
media-driven world.
Fake News untrue information in the public domain. It arises from a mix of
ideological and economic motivations.
Two characteristics of rise of fake news:
a. Little investment in investigative journalism
b. Focus on short-term profits over long-term reputation
Social media can increase the ease with which fake news can be distributed for three reasons:
Declining costs Format Affordances
The rapidly declining costs of The formats of social media Practices of sharing, liking and
producing and distributing news (being able to fit in small commenting build upon
(on social media), which shifts screens) make it difficult to established friend/follower
the balance between highly identify an article’s veracity, or networks, where there may be a
profitable and short-term even the source of the story has relatively high degree of
clickbait strategies as compared come from. ideological agreement, leading to
to long-term brand building as a filter bubbles, where the
trusted news source relationship of a news story to
pre-existing preferences is more
important
,Only a few platforms were able to commercialise the internet during the rise of social media. That led to a
monopoly where a few big conglomerates dominate the market. This has been made obvious with the rise of
social news
Social News News accessed from and shared through social media platforms
The rise of social media, social news, different scandals and the ease with which people can scrutinize
institutions has led to a crisis of trust towards traditional institutions.
- Media are hit the hardest because of that crisis of trust with governments and NGOs following
closely.
Distrust leads to a rise of populism. Why did has that happened
Populism and the Rise of fake news The platformed The crises of
traditional media internet and the rise of institutional trust
social news
Populism and Political and economic Platformisation → Institutions failing
mediatization are gains network monopoly societal expectations
strongly related Social media as catalyst Public opinion data:
of fake news With social media more drop in institutional trust
alternative/skeptical in Western liberal
sources and partisan democracies
news Lower trust in digital
platforms
Cycle of
institutionalized distrust
+ suspicion of elites
This leads to a cycle of institutionalised distrust + suspicion of elites → spiral of distrust
Conclusions
• A crisis of trust underlies societal challenges
• Crisis of trust a self-fulfilling prophecy
• The Internet is not power to the people
• Distrust is hand in hand with opposition to globalisation
→ Rise of populist nationalism & disengagement from institutions
,van der Meer et al (2024). Organisations and the crisis of trust: The challenges and opportunities of
declining institutional and informational trust.
Trust declines in all social institutions except business and NGOs.
Institutional trust is in decline → information distrust is the new default
Crisis of Trust An environment where multiple institutes are simultaneously no longer
trusted and the information ecosystem is challenged by the constant fear
of omnipresence of untrustworthy information
Trust and Division Challenges are prominent in:
1. Trust in business, governments and media
2. Political Polarisation
3. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
4. Misinformation
Collapse of Organisational Trust = Risk of Loss of the Social License to Operate
Definition of Trust
The truster The trustee The Expected Behaviour
The person who trusts The person or organisation who is What individuals trust the trustee
trusted to do (e.g. producing high-quality
products)
Trusting someone means that the truster believes that the trustee will act in line with the truster’s
expectations. It is about fulfilling or not social expectations.
Mediatization The organisation’s adaptation to the media and institutional logic to reach their
audience and keep up with societal change
Because the media define how organisations are evaluated, the organisations feel the need to constantly
reassure the people of their contributions to society. They want to Increase visibility, Amplify scrutiny,
Shape legitimacy
Social License to operate → Informal approval by society
Loss of trust→ Threat to organisational survival
, Two levels of Crisis of Trust
Institutional Trust Information Supply/ Misinformation
- Trust towards governments and politicians The spread of fake news make creates uncertainty
Misconduct and incompetence led people to trust regarding basic facts essential for a correct
the problem-solvers less democratic function
Trust in Organisations
Public Organisations Private organisations
Trust as a social contract can enable public Double-edged sword
organisations to work. Their legitimacy is never
- They have a lot of trust which they can use
questioned.
to step-up and take a leading role in
responding to crises
- They are confronted by their operations and
organisational dilemmas
Private organisations shall build their own social
contracts
Misinformation is a great threat to an organisation’s well-being. Having increased trust can protect them.
Also, they can get an advantage compared to public organisations with lower trust.
Strategies for organisations to reduce the crisis of trust
Strategies for Strategies for
Public Organisations Private organisations
1. Conduct environmental Monitoring 1. Use CSR Communication as a tool for
2. Cantering trust and legitimacy within their improving legitimization and reputation
operations 2. Fight misinformation
3. Be ready to quickly adapt their o Admit the responsibility and gain the
communication blaim for spreading misinformation
4. Invest in the public’s media and through PR
misinformation literacy o Use pre-bunking strategies and
5. Being ready to admit missteps Debunking (use employees as issue
advocates)
Flew (2019): Digital communication, the crisis of trust, and the post-global
Populism a binary we/they ideology is visible or as others define it, the “others of
the will of people”.
Remember Muddle’s definition: “the innocent people (“we”) against the evil elites (“them”)
- Communicative style of Populism → often appeals to the common sense, and it is prepared to engage
in an inappropriate world. Populist politicians had previously had relationships with the media (see
Silvio Berlusconi, Donald Trump)
Media and populism → “good bedfellows” – populism can only be understood within the framework of the
media-driven world.
Fake News untrue information in the public domain. It arises from a mix of
ideological and economic motivations.
Two characteristics of rise of fake news:
a. Little investment in investigative journalism
b. Focus on short-term profits over long-term reputation
Social media can increase the ease with which fake news can be distributed for three reasons:
Declining costs Format Affordances
The rapidly declining costs of The formats of social media Practices of sharing, liking and
producing and distributing news (being able to fit in small commenting build upon
(on social media), which shifts screens) make it difficult to established friend/follower
the balance between highly identify an article’s veracity, or networks, where there may be a
profitable and short-term even the source of the story has relatively high degree of
clickbait strategies as compared come from. ideological agreement, leading to
to long-term brand building as a filter bubbles, where the
trusted news source relationship of a news story to
pre-existing preferences is more
important
,Only a few platforms were able to commercialise the internet during the rise of social media. That led to a
monopoly where a few big conglomerates dominate the market. This has been made obvious with the rise of
social news
Social News News accessed from and shared through social media platforms
The rise of social media, social news, different scandals and the ease with which people can scrutinize
institutions has led to a crisis of trust towards traditional institutions.
- Media are hit the hardest because of that crisis of trust with governments and NGOs following
closely.
Distrust leads to a rise of populism. Why did has that happened
Populism and the Rise of fake news The platformed The crises of
traditional media internet and the rise of institutional trust
social news
Populism and Political and economic Platformisation → Institutions failing
mediatization are gains network monopoly societal expectations
strongly related Social media as catalyst Public opinion data:
of fake news With social media more drop in institutional trust
alternative/skeptical in Western liberal
sources and partisan democracies
news Lower trust in digital
platforms
Cycle of
institutionalized distrust
+ suspicion of elites
This leads to a cycle of institutionalised distrust + suspicion of elites → spiral of distrust
Conclusions
• A crisis of trust underlies societal challenges
• Crisis of trust a self-fulfilling prophecy
• The Internet is not power to the people
• Distrust is hand in hand with opposition to globalisation
→ Rise of populist nationalism & disengagement from institutions
,van der Meer et al (2024). Organisations and the crisis of trust: The challenges and opportunities of
declining institutional and informational trust.
Trust declines in all social institutions except business and NGOs.
Institutional trust is in decline → information distrust is the new default
Crisis of Trust An environment where multiple institutes are simultaneously no longer
trusted and the information ecosystem is challenged by the constant fear
of omnipresence of untrustworthy information
Trust and Division Challenges are prominent in:
1. Trust in business, governments and media
2. Political Polarisation
3. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
4. Misinformation
Collapse of Organisational Trust = Risk of Loss of the Social License to Operate
Definition of Trust
The truster The trustee The Expected Behaviour
The person who trusts The person or organisation who is What individuals trust the trustee
trusted to do (e.g. producing high-quality
products)
Trusting someone means that the truster believes that the trustee will act in line with the truster’s
expectations. It is about fulfilling or not social expectations.
Mediatization The organisation’s adaptation to the media and institutional logic to reach their
audience and keep up with societal change
Because the media define how organisations are evaluated, the organisations feel the need to constantly
reassure the people of their contributions to society. They want to Increase visibility, Amplify scrutiny,
Shape legitimacy
Social License to operate → Informal approval by society
Loss of trust→ Threat to organisational survival
, Two levels of Crisis of Trust
Institutional Trust Information Supply/ Misinformation
- Trust towards governments and politicians The spread of fake news make creates uncertainty
Misconduct and incompetence led people to trust regarding basic facts essential for a correct
the problem-solvers less democratic function
Trust in Organisations
Public Organisations Private organisations
Trust as a social contract can enable public Double-edged sword
organisations to work. Their legitimacy is never
- They have a lot of trust which they can use
questioned.
to step-up and take a leading role in
responding to crises
- They are confronted by their operations and
organisational dilemmas
Private organisations shall build their own social
contracts
Misinformation is a great threat to an organisation’s well-being. Having increased trust can protect them.
Also, they can get an advantage compared to public organisations with lower trust.
Strategies for organisations to reduce the crisis of trust
Strategies for Strategies for
Public Organisations Private organisations
1. Conduct environmental Monitoring 1. Use CSR Communication as a tool for
2. Cantering trust and legitimacy within their improving legitimization and reputation
operations 2. Fight misinformation
3. Be ready to quickly adapt their o Admit the responsibility and gain the
communication blaim for spreading misinformation
4. Invest in the public’s media and through PR
misinformation literacy o Use pre-bunking strategies and
5. Being ready to admit missteps Debunking (use employees as issue
advocates)
