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We need more trust in media, says Murdoch man Les

Les Hinton, who oversaw the Sun and the News and the World in the 2000s, has been speaking out about the lack of trust in the media

Rats in a Sack

Les Hinton (left) and Rupert Murdoch back in 2005. Photo: Graeme Robertson/Getty Images

‘The Trust Hunt’, was the headline on the latest blog post from former News International executive Les Hinton last week after he attended a glitzy conference called The Future of News on Manhattan’s West Side.

“The striking thing for me, amid the non-stop waves of bright-eyed optimism, was a word that echoed through the whole day,” wrote Hinton, who, as executive of Rupert Murdoch’s British news operation from 1995 to 2007 oversaw such titles as the Sun and News of the World. “TRUST.”

“Speaker after speaker repeated this word, though mainly to emphasize the ‘trust’ they claimed for their particular brands,” mused the Murdoch man. “No one mentioned that the news media is suffering a famine of trust; that a Gallup poll was released only two weeks ago showing that trust in mass news media is plunging; that in the 1970s it was at 70 percent of the population and had now plunged to a mere 28 percent.

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“That’s easy to understand, put in the context of a world flooded daily through social media with a crazy avalanche of lies and conspiracy theories; when a huge percentage of young people rely on unmonitored posts for their ‘news’; when powerful people pour scorn on the traditional media. It’s a truism that lies repeated again and again can turn into truth in the heads of many.”

Hinton then shared the piece to his LinkedIn page, where the very first comment came from Dominic Ponsford, editor-in-chief of industry website Press Gazette. “Interesting piece Les,” wrote Ponsford. 

“Is there anything, with the benefit of hindsight, you would have done differently during your time as executive chairman of News International in the 2000s which might have left us with a more trusted news media today?”. Alas, presumably too flooded with a crazy avalanche of lies and conspiracy theories, Hinton has yet to have a chance to respond.

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