Online news now one of trusted channels of information

Via eon.com.ph

Among different stakeholder groups, Filipinos trust the Church and media  the most, according to The Philippine Trust Index, the first-ever           quantitative study on the level and drivers of trust in key institutions in the Philippines—the Church, government, private industries, non-government organizations, and the media. The Philippine Trust Index was designed and conducted by EON Inc., The Stakeholder Relations Firm for the first time in 2011 in line with its mission to help organizations build trust-based relationships with their target publics.

The results showed that majority of respondents had a good level of trust in most institutions, except in the government. Asked which institution they trusted “very much,” 51% of respondents said they trusted the Church while 22% said they trusted the media the most.  Trailing behind in the most  trusted list were non-government organizations (12%), business (10%), and government (7%).

Overall trust ratings for the various institutions, including those respondents who said they trusted them “somewhat much” were as follows: Church, 83%; media, 64%;  business, 56%;  NGOs, 54%; and government, 40%.

Results showed that maintaining the separation of church and state is an important driver of trust. These were the qualities:

– Maintain separation of Church and State
– Propagation of the faith
– Be the role model of holiness
– Let Honesty Prevail

– Fight for what is righteous : go against the RH Bill
– Charity to the street children/poor
– Open-mindedness to the changing times

Worth noting, however, is that the Office of the President had trust ratings that were far better than other government agencies, with 54% indicating that they trusted the highest office—a full 10 points higher than Local Government Units (44%) and the Supreme Court (41%), which came out second and third on the list.  At the bottom of the list was Congress, with a trust rating of 32%.

Interestingly, the level of people’s trust varied by geography, with respondents from Davao being more trusting of all institutions than respondents from Cebu or the National Capital Region (NCR).

Respondents of the study were members of the population who are identified as the “informed public.” This group comprised adult Filipinos between 25 to 65 years old, who have completed at least three years of tertiary education, and who access print, online and broadcast media at least twice a week, on average. Data collection was conducted from May to June 2011 with a total of 500 respondents from across the NCR and the cities of Cebu and Davao. The survey method used was face-to-face interviews aided by a structured questionnaire using multi-stage systematic sampling.

Other noteworthy findings are as follows:

•    Television (78%), online news sites (68%), radio (66%), and newspapers  (66%) were still the most trusted sources of news and information. Blogs registered the lowest trust level of 37%, but social networking sites were more trusted by 49% of respondents.

•    The most trusted NGOs were those that advocated health and nutrition (65%);  children and youth issues (63%); and the environment (59%).

•    A person/persons within the institution are the most trusted sources of information about the organization; except in government where a media personality is seen as the most credible source of information. Across all institutions, including the government, the head of the organization is a less trusted source of information.  The preferred person for credible information is an advocate, a representative or a member of that organization.

•    When evaluating the trustworthiness of an institution six attributes were considered to be very important: transparency and honesty, quality results, open and can adapt to the changing times, responsive to stakeholders, and concern for the environment.

“For the surveyed stakeholder groups, the Philippine Trust Index could be a useful guide in finding ways to establish and build trust, keeping in mind that the current communication landscape, as well as global influences, foster public skepticism and increased expectations.  Trust consequently becomes more difficult to gain,” said Junie del Mundo, EON Chief Executive Officer.  “Over time, we can expect that Filipinos’ definition will evolve, shaped on what organizations do and communicate.  How these institutions respond and communicate will determine how they can nurture, or shatter trust in themselves.”

Insights provided by Eon

The current communication landscape, coupled with Circles of Trust people’s frequent media exposure, results to increased stakeholder expectations and public skepticism. Trust consequently becomes more difficult to gain. Various dimensions have to be addressed by institutions aiming to gain public trust. Although the government, being in the limelight more often, is the most impacted institution, other stakeholder groups like businesses and Results Relationships NGOs are also affected. The circles of trust show the key drivers of trust on Transparency institutions/ organizations. At the core of this trust architecture is integrity. Transparency and honesty are INTEGRITY consistent parameters of stakeholders when assessing an Honesty organization’s trustworthiness. How transparent are organizations in their processes? How sincere and honest/ truthful are they? Surrounding integrity are three other requisites, namely: Responsibility • Results – is your organization able to deliver on its promise? • Relationships – is your organization reaching out to its stakeholders and responding to their needs? • Responsibility – is your organization a responsible member of the community

Things to Ponder On Why is this happening? • Given today’s communication and media landscape, how exposed, visible is my organization? Consequently, how accountable are we to stakeholders? What are the expectations on us?What should we • What do we do as an organization that can help increase trust on us?say to gain trust? – What are we doing to deliver expected results? – What relationship do we have with our stakeholders, employees? – How socially responsible are we perceived by our stakeholders? Do we have (and communicate) sustainability initiatives? – Is integrity important in our organization? Are we transparent/honest? • Who is our current spokesperson? Is he trusted and credible? Who should communicate it? • Have we maximized various communication channels to further ourIn which channel objectives? How can we generate better awareness on milestones? should we communicate it?

See complete results:

The Philippine Trust Index is a quantitative study which aims to determine the level of public trust on five key institutions in the country – the Church, government, private industries, non-government organizations, and the media. It also seeks to identify the drivers of trust for each of these key stakeholder groups.

Respondents of the study were members of the population who are identified as the “informed public” – adult Filipinos between 25 to 65 years old, who have completed at least three years of tertiary education, and who access print, online and broadcast media at least twice a week, on average. Data collection was conducted from May to June 2011 with a total of 500 respondents from across the National Capital Region and the cities of Cebu and Davao. The survey method used was face to face interviews aided by a structured questionnaire using multi-stage systematic sampling.