Today's trust tip: Help your audience navigate the news
Hi there. Joy here.
Consuming the news is an overwhelming experience. I realize that it feels like we could have said that every day since the 2016 election season, but with coronavirus added to the mix, there is legitimately a lot to know.
It's also true that paying continual attention to breaking news alerts is exhausting. A recent Pew Research Center study found that 71 percent of Americans say they need to take breaks from COVID-19 news, and 43 percent say keeping up with the news makes them feel worse emotionally.
We're also headed into a season of potentially less dramatic coronavirus updates, with new cases and deaths slowing. And as people head into summer (and the temptation to take a break from reality), the tendency to check out from news updates could be high.
It's possible, of course, to find a middle ground — one that helps us stay informed without being consumed by and alarmed by repetitive updates. We can help our communities do that. Journalists can offer a path through the news that avoids both extremes.
Who better than you to teach your audience how to be smarter news consumers? And to be a trusted resource around the larger topic of the news?
In late March, when I was hearing a lot from my own friends and family about news fatigue, I wrote some advice for news consumers. It covered where to find quality news, how to check the legitimacy of news sources and how to know when to turn it all off.
Jonathan Lai of The Philadelphia Inquirer did something similar for his readers.
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