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COMMENTARY BY JACI CLEMENT: “Trust Isn’t a Media Problem. It’s an Everything Problem”
Trust Issues Are Everywhere
We all share one thing in common: we’re alive and trying to run an organization in the year 2026.
Let’s just get this out of the way now: 2026 doesn’t play nicely with anything born before it was.
And that includes everything we know about trust.
For years, declining trust has been framed as a media problem. Declining confidence in journalism…questions about credibility… a fractured relationship between the public and the press.
All true.
But also—all too narrow.
Because the data has been pointing to something bigger for a long time. The Edelman Trust Barometer has consistently shown that trust isn’t just down in media—it’s down across institutions. Business. Government. NGOs. All rolling downhill, some a bit faster than others. Your sector included.
That’s what happens when the landscape shifts around you.
The Crisis Impacts Everything: What Are You Doing About It?
The problem is many still operate as if they’re standing outside of it, even as it’s actively shaping their own outcomes.
That’s analog thinking… trapped in a digital world.
It’s also a crisis. You just haven’t called it that.
Not all crises require a sudden explosion. Some are a slow burn: Declining sales. Less foot traffic. Silence.
When you live inside it, it is — admittedly — harder to see. Drops are attributed to the economy, the season, the length of the month. What needs to be part of the picture is noticing that deals take longer. They require more proof of concept. A written contract where a handshake used to be enough.
Remember when a handshake used to be the gold standard? That was before the digital age, when trust identified as a noun.
Today, trust is constructed differently.
It’s assembled through signals. Tested instantly. Withdrawn just as quickly.
It's About YOUR website. YOUR messaging. YOUR impression
Your website, your messaging, your search results, your consistency—everything is being evaluated before a relationship even begins. Often before you even know someone is looking. A broken link used to be cause for concern. Today? People start by questioning whether you’re real or an AI creation.
And here’s the part many organizations still miss:
You are operating in the same trust ecosystem as the media.
When trust declines in “the media,” it doesn’t stay contained there. It reshapes expectations everywhere—including how your organization is perceived, evaluated, and chosen.
This is where the gap widens.
Structural Issues Require Operational Solutions: Are You Ready?
Because many organizations are still communicating as if they own their story.
But you can’t signal your way out of a structural problem. Trust isn’t built in a press release or a brand refresh. It’s built — or quietly lost — in the accumulation of every interaction, every follow-through, every moment where what you said and what you did either matched or didn’t.
The organizations gaining ground right now aren’t just communicating differently.
They’re operating differently.
That’s the shift worth making.
– Jaci Clement
CEO & Executive Director
photo by Bob Giglione provided by FMC
Register for the May 12 Masterclass Today
Reserve for our May 12 Masterclass, where you’ll get the inside skinny on what it’s really like to deal with the news media, its benefits and its tradeoffs.
Our featured speaker is Dr. Jeffrey L. Reynolds, who brings the expertise, so you bring the questions. That’s fair, right?
We’ll also do our masterclass thing where participants will learn communication theory and application: What to do in the first 60 minutes of a crisis … followed by common scenarios they’ll put into play.
It’s all about what you need to know … before you need to know it.
Bring your colleagues.
For reservations: The First 60 Minutes I Crisis Management Masterclass
Legendary. For Good Reason.
The Fair Media Council’s Folio Awards bring out the best in news and media for a day to celebrate what they’re doing to move us forward.
The best in commerce turns out because they know this is where credibility, visibility and influence converge.
Join us on June 15 as we honor the best in news and media from the Island, region and nation. Our judges represent what the public wants and needs from news and media — and that’s what makes Folio far more than an awards program. This is how the media landscape improves, and it starts on Long Island.
We’re proud to announce the following outstanding individuals who will be receiving FMC’s highest honor, Lifetime Achievement Awards:
- Sam Champion, America’s Weather Anchor, Good Morning America, ABC and Eyewitness News, WABC-TV
- Jennifer McLogan, Reporter, CBS News New York
- David Winzelberg, Reporter, Long Island Business News
FourLeaf Federal Credit Union, Northwell, Hofstra University, Montclair State University, Henry Schein, Jody Fisher PR, New York Sea Grant, Forchelli Deegan Terrana LLP, Robert B. Catell, Moritt Hock & Hamroff LLP, Breslin Realty, Blumenfeld Development Group and Museum of American Armor are but a few of this year’s premium supporters. There are many ways to add your name to this list.
Don’t miss it.
The Future Belongs to the Media Savvy
Business and nonprofit organizations are invited to join us now.
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