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The ground-breaking nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court means professional services firms have a lot to consider when it comes to their PR strategy. The key question is whether – and how – to weigh in publicly on an appointment that could have far-reaching business and social implications.

As her Senate confirmation hearings begin this week, Jackson stands on the threshold of one of the most consequential jobs in the country, ruling on issues that are critical to U.S. business, governance and civic life. If confirmed, she would be the first Black woman on the court as well as the first justice to have worked representing poor criminal defendants.

Her nomination comes as the public is increasingly looking to business leaders for guidance and opinions at important moments of civic discourse. Offering a point of view at such times shouldn’t be done without care. But organizations that consider the matter strategically have an opportunity — and in some cases, a responsibility — to express true positions of authority at a key juncture in U.S. history.

Jackson’s nomination isn’t the only high-profile personnel move that might tempt professional service organizations to speak up. We asked Greentarget’s senior leaders about the advice they offer clients who come to us for guidance in these moments, and it starts with a few questions.

Is There a Direct Connection?

The first couple queries are fairly open-and-shut and pertain to the direct connection to the person being nominated or appointee.

Does the nominee/appointee have a personal connection to your organization?

An organization that has such a connection almost certainly has the authority to say something. That might not be the case if, say, a 67-year-old is appointed to a significant position 40 years after working at a law firm as an associate. But if the connection is stronger, putting out a short congratulatory statement that acknowledges the connection is probably a smart play, assuming things didn’t end on bad terms.

Making such a statement is a point of credentialing for an organization, even if it’s not one that will likely generate tons of headlines. Of course, there’s the inverse to this question …

Does your organization have an obvious conflict when it comes to commenting?

This is probably another question without much gray area. The decision to say something publicly might be a simple “no” because there’s a direct conflict – in the case of Jackson, a law firm might be set to argue before the Supreme Court in the next term. That might not automatically rule out saying something, but it could limit what can be safely said. And a milquetoast point-of-view might not be worth the time it takes to work it up.

What if There’s No Direct Connection?

Depending on the answers to the first two questions, some organizations may simply shrug and move on. But there are other important questions to consider before doing so.

Does the position relate directly to a major focus or emphasis of your organization?

Say your organization does a lot of work in securities or finance. It’s likely that your team includes someone – probably multiple someones – with strong perspectives when a new SEC chairman is named. Or, perhaps your organization has expertise on workplace issues. The appointment of a new secretary of labor will probably elicit a reaction or two from members of your team.

Still, making public comments in such moments isn’t a given. It’s important to actually have something to say about the person being nominated – and that what you’re saying is insightful enough for the reward to outweigh any potential risk.

So how do I know if what we have to say is insightful enough?

For either of the above examples, your organization’s subject matter experts might have thoughts on how the new SEC chair or labor secretary might perform, how policy or enforcement might change and, ideally, practical guidance on how companies should adapt. Importantly, subject matter expertise doesn’t have to be confined to the focuses of practice groups within your organization.

In the case of Jackson’s nomination, Littler utilized an existing podcast on inclusion, equity and diversity to post an interview between Cindy-Ann Thomas, the co-chair of the firm’s EEO & Diversity Practice Group, and Bernice Bouie Donald, a federal judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit. Thomas and Donald, both of whom are Black women, discussed the importance of diversity on the Supreme Court, strategies for female jurists of color in managing biases and advice from Donald for other female attorneys of color, among other topics.

Walking the Walk and Talking the Talk

The life and professional experiences of Thomas and Donald meant they had gravitas to comment on Jackson’s nomination. But Littler as an organization also could authentically and effectively weigh in because the firm has addressed similar issues for five years on the podcast (in addition to a variety of other channels). These factors tie directly to the next question on our list.

Is your organization able to speak to that point effectively and authentically, particularly in historic moments?

This was a question that came up a lot over the past couple years as organizations decided whether and how to contribute to the conversation in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and a broader racial reckoning. As my colleague, Steve DiMattia, smartly noted last year, it’s important that public comments in these moments aren’t just words:

The authenticity and credibility of any statement issued to address a fraught moment will not be judged against the values that you claim to profess but by the values you demonstrate through your actions. Values reveal themselves in observable behavior. And an organization that claims to stand for diversity and inclusion, but which has done nothing to advance diversity and inclusion, needs to think carefully about how it participates in the conversation about diversity and inclusion or risk alienating its audience.

The Need(?) to Say Something in the Digital Age

Here’s one more piece to the puzzle: Not only do we live in an era when news can make it around the world in minutes, we live in one in which technology makes it easier than ever to hold organizations’ feet to the fire.

Take what happened during International Women’s Day earlier this month. A slew of organizations posted what were fairly banal comments meant to celebrate the day – and were then quickly skewered by a bot that replied to the original posts with pay gap data about the organizations. The organizations, many of which quickly deleted their original tweets, learned the hard way that it’s never been more important to think through points-of-view before going public with them.

But that shouldn’t keep companies from commenting at all. As my colleagues Pam Munoz and Howell J. Malham Jr., noted last year, “It’s not an option for companies and their leaders to avoid entering into the fray of complex social challenges anymore.”

It could be argued that companies can enter the fray without entering it at every possible moment – and in the case of Jackson’s nomination, the moment might simply not be right based on the criteria outlined above. Indeed, organizations should pick their spots, because an empty/by-the-numbers move will be at best a non-factor.

But smart and incisive commentary, delivered thoughtfully and at the right time, is likely worth the risk, and it can make for a smarter conversation.

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Smith’s arrival comes after more than two decades in journalism, including 10 years at The Wall Street Journal

Greentarget, a leading public relations firm focused on helping professional services firms establish positions of authority, announced the addition of award-winning journalist Jennifer Smith as Director of Content & Editorial Strategy. Smith, who spent more than a decade as a reporter covering a variety of topics at The Wall Street Journal, will lead Greentarget’s content team, which serves some of the world’s largest professional services organizations.

“Jennifer’s experience at such a prestigious publication will advance our embrace of journalistic principles. Her natural curiosity and creative energy make her a strong cultural fit and will further our mission to create unique positions of authority for our clients,” said Aaron Schoenherr, founding partner of Greentarget. “With content needs evolving so quickly – especially given ever-shorter attention spans and new information-consumption habits stemming from the pandemic – we think Jennifer is the perfect person to lead our content team in the years ahead.”

Smith, who will be based in Greentarget’s New York office, joined the Journal in 2011 and spent three years covering the legal profession, where she broke news on the biggest law firm dissolution in U.S. history. She then spent two years as a culture reporter before moving in 2016 to cover logistics and supply chain – an area that has taken on critical importance amid the ongoing pandemic.  

“I got to know Greentarget during my time covering the legal profession at the Journal and was impressed by the organization’s consistent professionalism, diligence and respect for journalistic principles,” Smith said. “While it wasn’t an easy decision to step away from journalism, I’m excited to approach the work from a different direction and join an organization with such a clear focus on creating compelling content that puts audience needs front and center.”

Before joining the Journal, Smith was a reporter at Newsday on Long Island, where she covered environmental issues and other topics. She also served as an adjunct professor at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism.

“Our content capabilities continue to be in high demand as the written word in particular carries significant weight among the sophisticated audiences our clients are trying to reach and influence,” said John Corey, president and founding partner of Greentarget. “Jen’s arrival is a tremendous step forward for Greentarget as we strive to preserve the principles of journalism in our approach to content while embracing what we know to be the fundamental attributes of compelling points of view – novelty, urgency, relevance and utility.”

Greentarget’s Content & Editorial service line has grown steadily in recent years to become an increasingly important part of the company’s offerings for a client base that largely competes on the basis of expertise and point of view. The team has an array of capabilities, including content strategy development, primary research reporting, op-ed campaigns, bylined articles, podcasts, audio storytelling and digital magazines.

Smith earned her M.S. in Journalism from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and her B.A. from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband.

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2021 was a bountiful year for the legal industry. Surveys by Citi Private Bank / Hildebrandt and Thomson Reuters / Georgetown Law Center all predicted double-digit increases in revenue and profits. The stories about individual firm performance emerging on Law.com bear out the predictions – the revenue and profit-per-equity-partner gains in 20 stories published to date average 15 percent and 26 percent, respectively. Certain firms reported 50 percent-plus increases in PEP, truly astonishing advances. With demand for legal services at historic highs in 2021, the same rising tide is lifting all boats.

In this environment, strong financial performance is unlikely to distinguish a firm in the lateral market. So what will help your firm stand out? Frame your financial message around talent.

Missing in the Am Law financial performance coverage so far is meaningful emphasis on firm culture – as experienced by associates, professional employees and partners – and discussion of hybrid and remote work arrangements. These are the new key metrics, valued now more than ever within firms and by potential recruits.

To make an impression on lateral candidates and key audiences within your firm – two groups who keep a keen eye on Law.com at this time of year – prepare messages for your financial survey interview with the following points in mind:

  • Focus on Talent and Culture – The pandemic-fueled Great Resignation is driving greater attention to the key components of a firm’s culture – i.e., the expectations regarding performance, norms that govern behavior, and actions that display your values. How this cultural grist drives a firm’s approach to such critical issues as diversity, wellness, and work environment is meaningful to potential lateral candidates, now more than ever. Nearly every managing partner featured in Law.com to date claims to preside over a great culture, and that the culture drives the firm’s success. But few have distinguished themselves by describing the specific actions they are taking to strengthen their culture.

One firm stood out for bringing its chief diversity officer, alongside the managing partner, to its Law.com interview. She described how the firm is supplementing its compensation strategy with increased and tangible nonmonetary means to attract and retain talent. Another firm stood out for describing an innovation to address lawyer turnover – something confronting all top firms that has otherwise gone unmentioned by the firm’s peers.

  • Explain Return to Work Expectations – When are your lawyers and professional staff expected to be back at their desks? For how often and for how long? This has been a moving target for most firms. Current and potential employees accustomed to a new fluidity between work and life are closely following signals regarding a firm’s disposition towards remote and hybrid work arrangements. How a law firm responds to its workforce’s new expectations and preferences regarding work environments will impact the firm’s ability to attract and retain talent.

Further, how you plan to use space signals whether 2021’s historic profits will prove an outlier as the firm – and historic expenses – get back to “normal,” or whether a fresh reallocation of office space will permanently free up resources to sustain profits or fuel attractive investments in talent. Some firms have shared their evolved plans for space and hybrid work publicly; linking these plans to financial expectations would attract attention.

  • Discuss Financial Results (With Context) – Revenue and profit remain critically important, of course. Share and celebrate strong results. But take care to contextualize these results as a function of exceptional circumstances. Several firms were quick to point out that strong 2021 numbers affirmed their strategy. But given the historic demand for legal services recorded within every segment of the Am Law 200, everyone can claim a smart strategy whether they have one or not. Offices have been empty, and travel is rare, so expenses are down. And strong profits per equity partner were supported at many firms by a decline in equity partner head count – some of it strategic, some not. So, will 2021 prove to be an outlier or has the firm evolved in ways that will keep expenses down, and profits higher, in perpetuity?

The historic war for talent is continuing in 2022, and that is ratcheting up the pressure firms are under to recruit and retain talent. As Hugh Verrier, Chair of White & Case, put it, “What no one wants in our profession is a world where people are being driven by numbers at the expense of people. That is what is commonly known as an absence of culture.”

Verrier is, of course, right. This is the year to make it known how you are investing in the firm’s culture and managing return-to-office expectations to create an environment where lawyers and staff can succeed and thrive.

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If you’re a business leader, the Great Resignation poses a significant threat to your firm’s wellbeing in 2022. We believe the best way to address that threat is to start treating your talent with the same emphasis you historically place on attracting and serving clients.

As unprecedented numbers of experienced professionals re-evaluate their careers and exit their industries altogether, you’re faced with a significant challenge. How do you attract and retain the employees who will drive your business forward? If you’re in the legal industry, you’re likely aware that associate turnover at the nation’s largest law firms increased to nearly 25% in 2021 – up from 18% in 2019 – an alarming number that likely explains the historic rise in associate salaries, that also is an imminent talent and financial risk to firms in 2022.

We’re seeing similar attrition in other segments of professional and financial services, as well – and this isn’t just a problem for your HR and marketing teams to solve. As a business leader, you’ll need to personally make sure your firm is the kind of place where the most talented people want to spend their time and devote their efforts. In fact, you’d be wise to prioritize this issue ahead of client growth for the foreseeable future.

Here’s how to make your firm an employer of choice amid one of the most competitive and challenging hiring landscapes we’ve ever witnessed.

Define and Communicate Your Firm’s Behaviors

Although often conflated, your organizational values and culture are not one and the same. Values are what you say. Culture is what you do. Behavior is the connective tissue that links your stated values to the boots-on-the-ground reality of what it’s like to work at your firm. When your values inform and influence behavior on a consistent basis, you have a healthy culture that’s worth joining. 

It takes intentional effort to create a values-infused culture. Here are two ways to get started.

1. Talk to your talent 

It sounds simple, but very few professional services organizations communicate with their own people with consistency and intent. If you’re like most professional services organizations, you interview your clients on a regular basis. And that makes sense — you want to know that your relationships are healthy and that your account teams are delivering the value you’ve promised. 

But are you regularly conducting similar interviews with your employees – beyond an annual performance review or other HR-led initiatives? Understanding your culture begins by collecting qualitative insights from across your organization. Imagine what you could learn if you created a safe atmosphere for employees to answer questions like:

  • How would you describe our culture to your family?
  • Does the way we approach our day-to-day work match our values?
  • Do you believe our core values are an accurate reflection of how we behave as an organization?
  • Is this an environment where you feel confident that you can reach your individual goals?
  • Why do you think we exist as an organization?

Of course, these conversations will only be useful if your employees are candid with you. To earn their trust, leaders should demonstrate vulnerability and a genuine desire to listen and show that they’re willing to invest the time to shape and own this process. That’s the best way for it to truly have an impact.  

2. Articulate the Specific Behaviors You Expect at Your Firm

After you obtain a clear understanding of your current culture, spell out the specific behaviors that will create the type of environment you want your firm to embody. Your mission statement should drive your organizational values, and your values should then influence and inform the behaviors you expect.

For example, Greentarget’s mission is to drive smarter conversations for our clients. In pursuit of that mission, we value being authentic, working hard, embracing curiosity that drives creative thinking, embracing the stretch and growing as individuals and as a team. But without specific behaviors that bring those values to life, what we value are just words on a page. To really bring this to life, we identified the concrete actions we need to take to solidify our culture. These include:

  • Drawing on colleagues
  • Asking insightful questions
  • Focusing on the details 
  • Responding with “yes…and”
  • Bringing fresh thinking 
  • Staying informed 
  • Building personal connections
  • Embracing inclusivity 
  • Recharging strategically 
  • Getting uncomfortable 
  • Asking “how can I help?”

Take time to define and communicate the mission, values, and behaviors that will attract the best and brightest talent. Compile persuasive stories about your employees’ achievements and successes. While a competitive salary might be the element that gets a prospective employee’s attention, an authentic, purpose-driven work environment is what will inspire them to stay. Purpose-driven team members seek out and stay with organizations where they feel they have strong relationships, are making an impact and see the opportunities for growth.

And keep in mind this isn’t a “one and done” exercise. There’s a reason author and consultant Patrick Lencioni fondly refers to the CEO as the “Chief Reminding Officer.” Great leaders articulate the behaviors they expect, emulate those behaviors themselves and then remind, remind, remind until they’re sick of hearing themselves talk about it. (And even then, they keep going).

Take on New Clients Based on Whether They’re a Good Fit for Your Team

Your internal culture is important. But it’s not the only factor determining whether your employees remain happy and fulfilled at work. Your clients also play a significant role in shaping your team’s day-to-day experience. 

That’s why it’s so important to consider client engagements carefully. No one wants to work with a client who is harsh, demanding and capricious. Difficult clients deplete your employees’ motivation and hinder the creativity necessary to do great work. 

Likewise, you should be careful to take on clients whose values align with your own. For example, if one of your core values is authenticity, don’t take on a client who pushes your team to misrepresent the truth or uses passive-aggressive behavior to bully your team. That only undermines your firm’s stated ideals and communicates the wrong message to your employees. 

Greentarget evaluates new client engagements using a quadrant that plots them based on financial opportunity and cultural alignment. Even if the potential client could bring significant revenue to the firm, we turn down the work if there are signs of low cultural alignment. We’ve assessed what we’ve learned over the years about strong client relationships, and we use this list to assess “fit” using more than our gut instinct.

There is plenty of client work to be had — especially in today’s climate. Be choosy about whom you welcome into the fold. Engage clients who are a pleasure to work with and who will treat your employees with respect. These engagements foster the best collaboration between your team and their clients, which in turn will keep them motivated, engaged and loyal.

A client once told us: “I want to be the account that your team is clamouring to join. The one that people talk about around the lunch table with appreciation. That’s how I know I’ll get your best and most creative work.” What does that type of client look like for your organization?

Prioritize Talent to Realize Greater Success

The only way you’ll meet your growth targets is if you have the talent to support your business objectives. And it will take more than pay and incentives to overcome the challenges brought on by the Great Resignation.

The good news is your culture can become a differentiating factor that attracts and retains the employees you need to drive your organization forward. A leading technology-focused professional services firm with an enviable culture and impressive DE&I track record recently added “Culture” to the head of communications’ title and responsibility. This individual is now focused both internally and externally on continually demonstrating and celebrating the firm’s most important cultural assets, initiatives and successes. This is an excellent example aligning culture and brand. 

You too can prioritize culture and employee experience over client growth, thereby creating the conditions that will ultimately lead to higher levels of success. And rest assured – if you take care of the talent, the revenue will follow.

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In today’s digital-first environment, people are empowered to seek out uniquely meaningful information from an ever-growing pool of sources. Counter to this growth in choice, however, is the declining trust in traditional media channels, with business emerging as the most-trusted institution.

That’s according to Edelman’s 2022 Trust Barometer. For organizations, notably professional service providers, this is an opportunity – maybe even an obligation – to provide answers in times of great uncertainty through owned content channels. To be clear, traditional earned media engagement remains an invaluable tool and likely always will. But increased trust in business means that every research report, blog post, white paper, or podcast demonstrates your firm’s ability to meet the specific needs of your audience, helping them make sense of an increasingly chaotic world.

As such, some of the things that we (along with others in the public relations and content marketing space) have been saying for years about the importance of producing owned content – and producing it well – have never been more salient.

1. Quality, Self-Published Content Establishes Your Firm’s Authority

The experts at your firm know your industry inside and out. They possess valuable insight and experience that benefit your clients every day. And their deep knowledge empowers them to communicate positions of authority that differentiate your firm from the competition.

It can seem counterintuitive to give some of their hard won expertise away for free. But that’s exactly what effective content marketers do. They identify topics and ideas that will resonate with prospective clients and provide useful information to help solve their toughest challenges. This establishes credibility and sparks the prospect’s interest to learn more. 

How Sharing Expertise through Content Generates Business

Here’s a real-life example of how the content marketing dynamic works. I’m an avid runner, and I recently began experiencing hip pain that slowed me down. I turned to Google for answers. My search brought me to an article on the Treadlabs blog that explained how different types of foot arches can influence a runner’s gait. I scoured their site to learn more about what might be causing my issues. After reading several of their in-depth, thoughtful articles, I deduced that my high arches were the culprit. As a result, I purchased insoles from their site. They gained a happy customer, and I found a solution to lessen my pain. 

Although this is a B2C example, the same principle works in the B2B space. Communicating your message directly to your audience in a way that’s useful and informative draws them in and shows them the value of becoming your client.

Your Owned Media Program Must Function Like a Well-Oiled Machine to Be Effective

As you create an owned media/content marketing program at your firm, be aware of the pitfalls that can hinder your progress. For one thing, generating content takes a tremendous amount of time and attention. As such, it’s crucial to think like a publisher. Stay hyper focused on your content plan. Determine what questions your target audience needs answered and set deadlines to publish content regularly. Consistency is the name of the game. 

Additionally, it’s unlikely your subject matter experts have the bandwidth to author their own content without significant support. They have myriad priorities competing for their professional attention. And without a plan, your owned media goals can easily fall to the bottom of their lengthy to-do list. 

As a marketing leader, it will take a concerted effort on your part to draw out your colleagues’ expertise. Furthermore, you will have to think through how to position their ideas in a way that matters to your audience. You may find it necessary to hire an employee to focus on this effort or engage a comms agency to help. 

2. Content Marketing Gives You a Direct Line to Your Target Audience 

Media attention can be a cause for both celebration and concern. Yes, it’s exciting when a journalist picks up your story. But at the same time, you ultimately have no control over how that news outlet communicates your message. They might shorten a quote, leave out salient information, or pick and choose what to focus on based on their own editorial needs. 

Furthermore, it’s difficult to track the effectiveness of these PR efforts. Given the multitude of media outlets available today, there’s no guarantee earned media coverage will reach your target audience at all.

By contrast, a solid content marketing strategy allows you to craft the right narrative using your own brand voice and style. For example, let’s say you want to communicate your firm’s position on a hot button social issue. Owned media allows you to contextualize and fully flesh out your position so that your meaning is crystal clear. 

Using keywords and smart SEO tactics help your audience find the information they’re looking for. But you don’t have to wait for organic search to bring you prospects. Using paid media and social channels, you can share and promote content to attract your target audience. Additionally, because your insights live on your site, you can easily track what prospects read, see how much time they spend on each piece of content, and observe whether they take the next step to subscribe to your emails, fill out your contact form, or request more information. 

3. Owned Media Can Generate More of the Earned Media Coverage You’re Looking For

It won’t happen overnight, but once you’ve established a consistent owned media program, you may find that it generates meaningful earned media coverage, too. Highlighting your firm’s expertise while simultaneously providing useful insights to your audience has the potential to command attention. 

As part of our own content marketing program, Greentarget has written and spoken about fake news and its impact on journalism for the past two years. We’ve conducted and published in-depth research and shared our POV on the topic with our audience in various channels. As a result, MSNBC picked up the story and used it as a basis for further exploration of and conversation around the topic.

We’ve worked with clients to achieve similar results with their owned media programs as well. It takes time and dedication, but the results speak for themselves.

Make Owned Media Part of Your Multi-Faceted Communications Program

Owned media isn’t meant to supplant your other communication efforts. Rather, it should work in tandem with your paid, social, and earned media efforts to function as part of a vibrant ecosystem. You write quality content and promote it via paid and social media channels. Your audience engages with that content by visiting your site and perhaps sharing insights with their own network. And when that happens, you’ve created the right conditions for journalists to use your content to craft compelling earned media stories. 

Do you need guidance thinking through how to tell your firm’s story while highlighting your talent’s expertise? We’d love to help direct conversations that matter as part of your comprehensive media strategy. Let’s talk.

Computer vector graphic created by freepik – www.freepik.com

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When we put out our second annual Fake News survey late last year, the challenges were clear: an overwhelming 93% of journalists believe fake news has a negative impact on their profession.

Less clear, however, was what exactly should be done about it. Our respondents, comprised of over 100 journalists, said – perhaps a bit predictably – that journalism was the answer. Yet their optimism was not exactly overwhelming. Only 14% said their efforts had a significant impact on lessening the spread of fake news.

They’re not the only ones who are skeptical. When former White House correspondent and political reporter Marc Ambinder wrote about our survey for MSNBC, he expressed disbelief that fake news could be fixed by more journalism. With democracy in retreat, he wrote, more media will just lead to more “anti-media” attacks. He suggests instead that, “What is needed is more relentless, sophisticated and unyielding pressure on the superspreaders of misinformation.”

While how and who might apply that pressure remains to be seen, Ambinder’s thinking does at least present another solution to the problem. Nieman Lab’s Predictions for Journalism 2022 series, which we’ll dig into below, offers more. As we’ll see, media institutions, editors, and journalists aren’t the only ones who need to play a role. In a world where CEOs are increasingly more trusted than media and government, business and expert authorities can (and should) contribute as well.

Insights from Nieman Lab

Each year, Nieman Lab “asks some of the smartest people in journalism and media what they think is coming in the next 12 months.” This time around, many (unsurprisingly) addressed fake news. Though each piece in the series is worth a read, we’ve gathered a few key insights.

Diagnosing the Root Cause  

Several Nieman Lab contributors begin by addressing the underlying problems with today’s news media: namely, structural misallocations and the so-called “infodemic” – “a deluge of information so overwhelming that it becomes impossible for ordinary people to figure out what is or isn’t credible information.”

Several Nieman Lab contributors begin by addressing the underlying problems with today’s news media: namely, structural misallocations and the so-called “infodemic” – “a deluge of information so overwhelming that it becomes impossible for ordinary people to figure out what is or isn’t credible information.”

For instance, Izabella Kaminska, outgoing editor of the Financial Times’ Alphaville blog, writes that mistrust in media stems largely from “structural, economic, and bureaucratic forces that have come to underestimate editorial risks and misallocate resources in a bid to maximize returns from reach, digitalization, and standardization.” These forces, she goes on, favor “predictable clicks drawn from knee-jerk, and often erroneous, takes that ride the consensus wave, while sensationalizing content and narrowing the public debate spectrum.”

This is in part what happens when news tries to keep up with the shift to online – from the pre-digital notion that information is finite, to the infinite nature of today’s news. As Shalabh Upadhyay, founder of NEWJ in India, puts it:

…why rely on a journalist if your peers have the same access to the same information from the same source? News organizations are increasingly moving from being a primary source of information to being a source of validation of already-consumed news. With the presence of multiple media players, one of them is bound to validate your version of the consumed information, making the rest of the organizations seem misguided. Hence the emergence of the post-news world and the general erosion of trust in journalism and journalists across the globe.

Finding Solutions

To combat these problems, Nieman Lab contributors offer several solutions:

  • A collaborative and open model of journalism – powered by technology and focused on credibility

“In a world of information overload, credible information – or credibility itself – is the opportunity gap for journalism to rally around to create a sustainable value proposition,” Upadhyay writes.

But given the subjective nature of credibility, especially amid rampant polarization, the process by which journalism achieves it must change.

One of the ideas Upadhyay suggests is “transparent processes that provide the general public with the means of validating their work.” Technology and collaboration can help here. Raney Aronson-Rath, executive producer of Frontline, cites Nobel Peace Prize-winning journalist Maria Ressa’s efforts on this front in the Philippines, including a “fact-checking consortium among news groups to try to help identify online disinformation in near real-time” that also works with “civic engagement, legal, and academic partners.”

Rath also cites the Pandora Papers as evidence of technology’s ability to enable “hundreds of reporters around the world to join forces in secure ways, and to tell a global accountability story with implications that continue to reverberate.”

  • More curation, less noise

Another commonly articulated solution: Focus on quality and curation – not just clicks. Simon Allison, co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Continent, Africa’s most widely distributed newspaper, says that in the context of a universal “information-rich environment … journalism now functions to condense, contextualize, and curate the sheer volume of information that is out there and accessible to all – to stand between readers and the abyss of the infodemic.”

The news product that does this the best, he says, is the old-fashioned newspaper, which is tightly edited and carefully ordered. The worst is the news website, which offers a “dizzying array of stories” and contributes to decision fatigue. Yet focusing on quality content is easier said than done. It’s a matter of aligning the right incentives and resources to combat engrained structural forces that prioritize the sort of “predictable clicks” Kaminska talks about.  

With that said, Tamar Charney, consulting senior supervising producer for NPR’s Throughline, thinks that in a lot of ways, we’re getting there. “Daily news podcasts and newsletters are a growing way people are getting their news. Most daily news podcasts are relatively short, meaning that in 10, 20, or perhaps 30 minutes you can walk away feeling like you are pretty well informed. Newsletters also give you that sense of ‘Okay, I’m caught up,’ so you can turn your attention to something else.”

  • Community engagement is key

“If local newsrooms are going to rank alongside direct service providers seeking support from the same philanthropic people and institutions, newsrooms will have to show that they are listening beyond their existing audience and taking steps to strengthen the community, not just report on it,” writes Ariel Zirulnick, senior editor for community engagement at Southern California Public Radio.

As an example, she cites her team’s work “hosting listening sessions and researching the information needs of Angelenos underserved by journalism.” Collaboration here is key – not only between a newsroom’s audience and engagement teams, but with local, civic and academic organizations.

Other Nieman Lab contributors echo these sentiments, whether they’re discussing going beyond data and into local communities, the importance of face-to-face reporting, or collective impact models that can strengthen and redefine local news.

How Businesses Can Help

If there’s one takeaway from all this, it’s that no one journalist, editor or media organization can beat back the tide of fake news alone. In fact, according to Edelman’s 2022 Trust Barometer, it’s businesses – and, to a lesser degree, NGOs – that should help provide societal stability in an era when media and government are viewed as increasingly divisive.

For instance, business’ trust score is 61, government’s is 52, and media’s is 50. More people trust their own employer than their government or news sources, and the majority of respondents now want business leaders to speak up about societal issues.

At Greentarget, we believe that business leaders who see the need to speak up should do so by developing effective positions of authority. That means speaking on timely, relevant issues that executives are experts in; crafting distinct points-of-view and/or tangible guidance that provides utility; participating intelligently in ongoing media conversations; and supporting or supplementing trusted news outlets, journalists and editors with expert commentary and insights.

Their role is to supplement and support traditional journalism and add expertise to important discussions – bolstering journalists’ efforts, when appropriate. And when they do participate, they shouldn’t just follow consensus or add to the noise. This is what Kaminska thinks is missing in today’s media landscape: “…contrarian quality reads that might be slower to come to market but are much harder to discredit over time because they have been properly researched, considered, and tested.”

There may be no one-size-fits-all solution to fake news, which is why now is not the time to be short-sighted or, worse, cynical. More than ever, we all have a responsibility to play a part in providing and supporting credible, quality news people can trust.

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