Credibility and independence: what moves Swiss journalists

For Swiss journalists, independence and credibility are currently the biggest challenges. Media makers use social media mainly to monitor other media, events or people. When dealing with media spokespeople, editors are most annoyed when they do not receive honest answers or media statements offer too few facts. These were the findings of the new media trend monitor " by news aktuell and Faktenkontor. More than 500 journalists took part in the large survey (including 116 editors-in-chief).

For the majority of media makers, the issue of credibility is currently the biggest challenge. Just under half of the respondents are concerned that people no longer trust the media (49 percent). In second place comes the issue of independence. 38 percent of journalists believe that deliberate influence by third parties undermines the sovereignty of the media. How media deal with the digital transformation and with which digital business models they can earn money in the future are among the biggest challenges for almost one in three journalists (29 percent).

Social networks are now established tools that play an important role in everyday editorial work. Most often, the social web is used to monitor other media or people or events (61 percent). Social media is used almost as often for research purposes (58 percent). More than half of those surveyed say they use the new media to publish or announce articles (54 percent). However, social media are used less for dialog with different target groups. Only one in four respondents uses social networks for this purpose (26 percent).

The survey also focuses on the relationship between journalists and company spokespeople. More than half of the media professionals surveyed are most annoyed when communications directors are dishonest and inauthentic (49 percent). The second most annoying factor is the whitewashing of media spokespeople. Praising instead of putting facts on the table: That bothers 46 percent of journalists. They find complicated authorizations just as annoying. Worryingly, almost a quarter of respondents criticize poorly crafted PR material. For example, 24 percent of respondents say that unprofessional media material bothers them a lot. The more experienced the editor, the more critical the view of the PR content. While only nine percent of young professionals (1-5 years of professional experience) criticize bad media releases, the figure for journalists with 11-15 years of professional experience is 38 percent.

Other results:

• Fifty-six percent of journalists say the public's trust in the media has declined over the past 12 months.
• Taking over content from companies and PR agencies without checking it is the biggest mistake journalists can make today. That's what 51 percent say.
• Even in the age of smartphones and social media, journalists still believe that face-to-face conversations are the most important means of information that companies have to offer. This view is shared by 67 percent.
• The most important goal on the social web is to increase user and reader loyalty. 64 percent say that.
• The group of people most closely monitored by journalists on the social web are other journalists. This was stated by 62 percent.

Survey Design:

501 journalists took part in the media trend monitor "Focus on Journalism - What Moves Swiss Journalists Today". The survey took place in March 2017. The initiators News aktuell and Faktenkontor chose an online survey as the method. All figures are rounded to the nearest whole number.

You can find the complete survey results here.