Trust is hard to win and easy to lose. That is especially true for journalists. Today I got an email from Joanna Norris, the Stuff website’s Chief Content Officer. Norris hammers the importance of trust. For example, she says,

“It is an important we focus on the commitments we have made to ensure our journalism is trusted and supports a better Aotearoa.”

and
“To ensure we drive always towards courageous, relevant, relatable and trusted journalism”

Norris has set herself no small task. In the story of the boy who cried wolf – could the boy be trusted? No, because his cries of distress were fake news. Stuff and other news outlets could learn from that example. Day after day they have reported how New Zealand is about to be consumed by a COVID surge. Two weeks ago, Stuff and others were reporting “expert” predictions of 40,000 daily COVID cases. Doom was going to strike, “before Waitangi Day”.

Well, we’ve arrived at Waitangi Day and the case count today is 205. The total cases in over a year of testing is 16,901. Contrary to Stuff’s reported predictions the actual numbers of COVID cases is 0.5% of what Stuff predicted. The two-year total number of cases is still only 42% of what Stuff told us would now be our daily count. The gulf between Stuff’s reporting and the truth is 99.5%. Hardly an auspicious beginning to the Norris drive for trust. Stuff simply cannot be believed. That is not the way to earn our trust.

Stuff has gone to self-appointed COVID “experts” and reported, without analysis or accountability, every gem. Thanks to Stuff, for months we have lived through a mindless era of expert opinion. Michael Baker, Nick Wilson, Jennifer Summers, Amanda Kvalsvig, Matire Harwood, Siouxsie Wiles, Shaun Hendy, Dion O’Neale, Arindam Basu, and even Australian Global Health professor, Tony Blakely have become Stuff’s go-to source of COVID wisdom. The result is that Stuff ended up reporting 99.5% rubbish.

To be trusted Norris and her Stuff team need to be better than that. Trust requires critical analysis. Trust requires accuracy. Trust does not mean exaggeration. Trust must not cause panic. And trust does not involve crying wolf because some university tutors saw a shadow and wanted to enhance their academic status. In this case Norris and her Stuff team have earned a D- in their quest for trust. Perhaps better next time.