Trust is no longer the problem. Knowing where to place it is.

By Cindy Kidger

There was a time when credibility was not an abstract idea in South African newsrooms; it was the foundation on which news was built. As a young journalist entering the profession during the 1990s, I learnt quickly that stories were challenged before they reached the page, sources had to be scrutinised, and facts were checked and checked again. My sub editors were not interested in my thoughts or opinions on a subject, and there was an unspoken understanding that readers were placing something valuable in journalists’ hands every time they bought a newspaper: their trust.

I later “crossed” the pond to public relations, discovering that the best practitioners were also guided by many of the same principles. The role was never simply to generate publicity, it was to help organisations communicate honestly, provide journalists with information that could withstand scrutiny, and contribute something of value to the public conversation. Credibility and trust still remained the currency and value of publications and broadcasters.

Then the media landscape shifted beneath our feet.

The digital revolution gave a voice to people and communities who had too often been excluded from traditional media, dismantled barriers to publishing and transformed how information moves around the world. Few would argue that this democratisation of communication has not brought significant benefits, but it has also blurred distinctions between reporting and commentary, and fact and opinion.

Today, every organisation is a publisher, every person a broadcaster. AI can create photographs, videos and written content that appear entirely authentic, shaping our thoughts and our minds. Algorithms reward engagement above accuracy, social platforms intentionally reinforce existing beliefs, feeding people more of what they already agree with. It has become entirely possible for intelligent, well-informed individuals to occupy completely different versions of the same reality.

This is not simply a crisis of misinformation, it is a crisis for media houses, businesses, CSI’s etc in the pursuit of credibly sharing their content amongst all this noise. Even the most rigorous journalism now competes within an ecosystem where verified reporting is instantly surrounded by opinion, conjecture, commercial interests and algorithmically amplified noise. Readers are no longer asking only whether something is true, they are asking who to trust. Or should be.

Ironically, this is precisely the moment when experienced strategic communication management has become more important than ever before. Not the version driven by publicity for publicity’s sake, but the “old school” version grounded in journalistic values. It is perhaps no coincidence that organisations with the most at stake are increasingly recognising the value of communications professionals whose careers began in newsrooms before they ever entered boardrooms. Those who understand both worlds, understand that facts matter, context matters, and that credibility cannot be manufactured after the fact.

In an environment where a single misleading post can travel further than a carefully researched article, strategic communication management is not just about visibility but well- managed consistency that drives messaging that people can trust.