In an age of “fake news”, low trusts of legacy news media and fierce criticism, more journalists want to explain news processes to their readers. In the research I did recently, journalists say however that today’s fast-changing news cycle and political misinformation on social media affects the quality of news and their relationship with their audiences. Journalists interviewed prefer analytical criticism – criticisms that allow them to engage with their readers who are civil and inquisitive. They are however ambivalent about constructive criticism from audiences as the journalists have a high opinion about their profession and their doubt their readers/viewers/listeners’ capacity to understand the news business. The results confirm that more engagement between journalists and audiences can rebuild trust in the news. For more on the study, see the following article (open access) in the journal, Journalism Practice: Popular Criticism That Matters Journalists’ perspectives of “quality” media critique.
David Cheruiyot 