2: Accuracy in Media

Accuracy in media is essential because it relates to trust, and trust relates to short-term and long-term audience building. If you or your organization are not known to be truthful, your reputation will likely suffer, which can drive away audiences. Losing your audience can have serious financial implications, but there are social implications as well, particularly in journalism. When people stop trusting the news, they stop believing in each other's ability to make informed political decisions. 

This chapter addresses why accuracy matters. It defines misinformation and disinformation as threats to accuracy. It helps media writing students to develop strategies for verifying information and demonstrating to audiences what sets their fact checking skills apart from those who claim to have "done their research" but who have actually gone down a social media misinformation rabbit hole.  

Having a commitment to truth telling is central to most mass media professions. Most professional organizations address accuracy, honesty, or truth telling among their core ethical values. Professional journalists, for example, put accuracy atop their list of professional values. The Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics lists as its first foundational principal: "Seek Truth and Report It."

Professional journalists and news organizations live and die by their reputation. Freedom of the press is Constitutionally protected and is related to the idea that the foundation of a democratic society is that well-informed citizens have the power to elect leaders and then to demand that they act in the best interests of their constituents. Accuracy in the news media is foundational to the business model and from a broader perspective it is foundational for democratic societies.

Advertising and Public Relations professionals also list accuracy high in their codes of ethics. The American Marketing Association lists "Honesty" as its top ethical value. The American Advertising Federation puts honesty second in its code of conduct behind only "To act in the best interests of...the organization." The Public Relations Society of America puts honesty just after advocacy in its list of professional values as well. Across the spectrum of mass media professions, honesty is seen as an essential value.

And yet, the American media, in a general sense, are experiencing particularly low levels of public trust. Much of this is related to efforts to sow partisan mistrust in mainstream news media. Media professionals have to acknowledge that there are forces working to undermine trust, and they also have to acknowledge that research suggests many media consumers do not connect their personal media use habits with a "desire to be informed." 

This means everyone in the mass media industry including journalists, advertising professionals, public relations representatives, etc. must persuade audiences not only to trust that what they are hearing and reading is accurate but also to care about being informed in the first place.

A loss in trust in media is almost universally accepted as negative for the industry. Prioritizing values other than advocacy for truth is not likely to sustain the various media industries in the long term.

While there is always room to argue about which facts to prioritize and whose opinions should carry the most weight, opinions in a rational society should be based on facts and a good faith effort to learn and share truth. Democracies claim to operate on the foundation that members of the public can be informed, that they wish to be informed, and that they will make reasonable arguments for their preferences based on good information when it is made available.

In other words, democracy does not promise to put an end to disagreements. Instead it proposes a system where decisions are made based on reason, and the fuel of reason is accurate information. The fact that it is more difficult to locate truth in an age of massive electronic flows of information, misinformation, and disinformation does not mean it is acceptable to give up on accuracy. It only means media professionals need to work harder and care about accuracy more than ever.

This chapter helps readers define misinformation and disinformation in the context of accuracy not only in news but in all media professions. It then goes into a deeper explanation of the value of verified information in digital media marketplaces. It proposes strategies for verifying information and transparently demonstrating to others that one's assertions are backed by facts. 

Finally, this chapter discusses the threats posed by misinformation and disinformation to democracy and social order.