Who can we trust?

"Trust is the most basic element of social contact-the great intangible at the heart of truly long-term success"-Al Golin, 40 year veteran of the public relations industry.

We hope for the truth in every aspect of our lives. We purchase cars from used car lots, we listen to every word a prospective politician tells us and hope it's the truth and when we shake hands on a deal we expect both parties to abide. But in our changing society it's hard to take a man's word at face value. It seems that more often people are "bending" the truth or telling a "white lie."

So who do we have to trust? In high school I would believe pretty much everything that was written on the Internet or said on the local news channel. Many media classes later, I now realize that was a mistake, and it seems everyone else has come to the same conclusion. Wilson & Ogden (2008) discovered the credibility of traditional mass media is dropping: newspapers at 37 percent (down from 44 percent), radio news at 39 percent (down from 48 percent), and television news at 35 percent (down from 38 percent).

So who can we trust? According to a survey done by Richard Edelman, CEO of Edelman Worldwide, "the most trusted source of information now is a peer, or a person like me." That's right! Opinion leaders are the leading force behind what is considered a truth from a lie. For the most part, being educated, skilled, qualified and honest in your chosen career can determine whether someone finds you credible, and having charisma doesn't hurt either!

So, what I believe my personal conclusions about trust come down to is something a lot of us have heard growing up: trust your instincts. This can often be related to the saying, "go with your gut." When doing PR for a client, it can be easy to stretch the truth to make them look good. But if your instincts tell you your story isn't believable, it probably isn't to your audience, either. 

Be selective about where you receive content to help you separate the truth from lies, and this will result in ethical public relations practices.