Any publisher can have these attributes
“Viewers’ trust depends on the publisher’s accountability.”
10 attributes of trusted publishers
1. The publisher has a reputation for never having published an image that was implied to be an undoctored photo but was not in fact an undoctored photo.
Most viewers will forgive one slip-up if it is well-explained, but after two highly publicized slip-ups, regaining credibility can be difficult.
2. The website, app, or platform is “carefully curated” — that is, the provider is always aware of every piece of content they publish.
Photo publishers (including photographers) who want to be “trusted” consider each new addition of content before it is published, asking what that addition will do to the publisher’s reputation.
See “pre-checked” vs. “post-checked” and see #7–10 below.
3. The publisher publishes a written correction or apology for any untrustworthy or incorrect items previously published in print or online.
4. The publisher is legally liable for all content they put before the public.
5. The publisher makes viewers and readers aware of any outside influence that visitors would want to know about (for example, “sponsored content,” advertisements that look like editorial content, subsidies supplied to the provider or its contributors, etc.).
6. The audience can readily identify actual persons who generate content on behalf of the publisher.
Unless they have the publisher’s specific approval of each instance,
7. no one can add content,
8. no one can alter
content,
9. no one can hide content, and
10. no
one can delete content.
How does social media relate to the list above?
• All of the attributes listed above are a matter of choice, not of luck.
• The news sections of the most-trusted news publishers in the free world have ALL of these attributes.
• Most areas of most social-media platforms have NONE of these attributes.
• Not all publishers that have these attributes are trustworthy, but none of the most-trusted publishers lack these attributes.
