Richard Edelman says the U.S. is living in an “era of information bankruptcy” as leaders lie to the public, which views media outlets as politicized and biased.
“The result is a lack of quality information and increased divisiveness,” he said in releasing the 2021 Edelman Trust Barometer.
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Edelman believes the Jan. 6 invasion of the U.S. Capitol and the fact that only a third of Americans plan to get the COVID-19 vaccine highlights the dangers of misinformation. Fifty percent of Americans believe the country is in the grip of a “cold civil war,” according to the Barometer.
Business (61 percent) replaced government (53 percent) as the most trusted institution since the mid-May update of the Barometer.
The record-breaking time to develop the COVID-19 vaccine and ability to shift to a work-from-home environment sparked the upswing in business trust.
“Guarding information quality” at 5.8 percent ranks as the top action that can “increase likelihood” of trust. That’s followed by embracing sustainable practices (5.7 percent), robust COVID-19 health and safety response (4.8 percent), driving economic prosperity (4.7 percent) and long-term thinking over short-term profits (4.6 percent).
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The Barometer gauged the trust levels of Biden and Trump supporters following the November election.
It found a 19 percent overall trust gap between Biden voters (53 percent) and Trump backers (34 percent).
Both factions recorded the same level of trust in business (55 percent), but split on trust in government (45 percent for Biden, 30 percent for Trump).
There was a yawning gap (39 percent) in trust in the media. Fifty-seven percent of Biden voters trust the media, compared to 18 percent for Trump people, which was a 15 percent plunge from the 2020 Barometer update.
While the danger of being on the president’s bad side is seen as a major source of concern for brands, the potential negative effects of artificial intelligence pose an even greater reputational threat, according to Global Situation Room report.
While predictions of economic improvement in the coming year from corporate and financial decision makers are down slightly from last year’s numbers, the overall outlook is still strongly positive, according to a new survey from Teneo.
A strong overall digital presence has become a must-have for CEOs—not just a strategy for dealing with a crisis or market announcement, according to a new study from H/Advisors Abernathy. However, making that presence an effective one is not as simple as it might seem.
Most B2B marketing execs expect to have more money to work with in 2026, according to a new report from 10Fold.
Seventy percent of decision makers at US life sciences companies are bullish about what 2026 holds for their businesses, but challenges in the capital markets, shifts in political and policy issues, and the persistence of cybersecurity threats are tempering that optimism, a new report from FTI Consulting finds.
