Last month, a friend and colleague shared an article with me that cited a recent study conducted into ‘journalistic values from an audience perspective’ in Chile, the results of which recognised the “importance of the human touch in journalism”. The two academics; Mellado and Gajardo, uncovered a profound disconnect between how journalists perceive their professional role and what audiences truly value in media. I believe that this research offers critical insights not just for Chilean media, but for global journalism – particularly in contexts like the United Kingdom, where similar patterns of media alienation are emerging. It also demonstrates the urgent need for projects like Common Cause’s ‘Values in the Media’ project when navigating the future of journalism.
The professional vs. human divide
Arguably, journalism has traditionally seen values as problematic. Rather, in striving to report facts in an objective way, there’s been a reluctance to admit that journalism is, inescapably, value-laden: whether in making decisions about what to report, how to report it, or whose voices to foreground. Journalists have tended to see themselves as neutral conduits of information, prioritising factual reporting and professional detachment. Regardless of whether or not this is possible, in values terms at least, the Chilean study reveals a starkly different perspective from audiences who are craving human connection, empathy, and emotional resonance.
While the Reuters Institute Digital News Report consistently shows declining trust in media institutions, the underlying dynamic mirrors the Chilean findings. Audiences aren’t just seeking information; they’re seeking understanding.
Values and audience expectations
The original research by Mellado and Gajardo reveals a critical insight: audiences prioritise fundamentally different journalistic qualities than professionals. Specifically, audience members emphasised emotional approachability, empathy, clear communication and trust-building. As one participant articulated: “A journalist has to be very approachable… has to build trust… very empathetic, very open to listening.”
Mellado and Gajardo’s findings suggest that audiences, in Chilé at least, value relational and humanistic qualities within the journalism they access. Our understanding of values at Common Cause complements these findings. We argue that communication emphasising our shared, intrinsic human values that the vast majority of us prioritise, such as love for our friends and family, unity with nature and social justice, instead of extrinsic values that are currently elevated in the mainstream, such as wealth, power and achievement , can enhance the engagement and understanding of our audience.
So why is this disconnect happening? Mellado and Gajardo identified three reasons:
- Journalists defensively protect ‘professional standards’
- Media organisations view audiences instrumentally through metrics
- Journalists assume audiences don’t understand their work
I would add that there’s evidence for a values perception gap between the values that the majority of journalists think that citizens prioritise, and the values that the majority of citizens actually prioritise. I would argue that values perception gap is contributing to the disconnect between the journalistic qualities prioritised by professionals and those prioritised by their audience and that exacerbating the values perception gap amongst citizens themselves, contributes to lower levels of wellbeing, lower levels of civic participation and less support for pro-social and pro-environmental policies in the population.
The UK context
While Mellado and Gajardo’s study was conducted in Chile, UK media landscapes show remarkably similar challenges. Declining print circulation, growing digital mistrust, advances in AI and generational shifts in media consumption all suggest a systemic need for more human-centric journalism. And I believe that values are key to this shift – firstly, by being more transparent about the values that have inescapably and always shaped, and continue to shape information shared between humans (in this case ‘the news’). And secondly, by being more responsible for and intentional about the values that we foreground, and the resulting impact that this has on the values and behaviour of the individuals engaging with news content, and, in turn, our collective cultural values and the social and environmental repercussions of this. Values are more important than many of us realise. And by this, I don’t mean a few lovely sounding words on a website, I’m talking about the social psychological understanding of human values as the deeply meaningful, powerful beliefs we hold individually and collectively, which shape the way we understand and navigate the world, and on which we co-create our systems, our lives and our response to social and environmental challenges.
A call to transformation
What might it look like for journalists to respond to such research? This isn’t about abandoning journalistic rigour, but complementing it. What might journalism look like that, as Mellado and Gajardo suggest:
- Aligns more authentically with audience expectations
- Views audiences as legitimate stakeholders
- Creates more symbiotic relationships
- Balances technical proficiency with human connection
The mainstream news media has always been shaped by dominant cultural values, and the reverse is also true: the media helps to shape those cultural values. It’s time for the sector to acknowledge the inevitability of this, and to take responsibility for what we’re calling its “cultural values footprint”. Perhaps it looks like reporting that combines factual accuracy with emotional intelligence; perhaps it’s news reporting that treats audiences as collaborative partners rather than passive consumers and moves away from metrics that measure “success” with clicks and views instead of pursuing more meaningful impact; perhaps it’s news outlets, and individual journalists and editors more transparently communicating the core values and motivations that guide their decisions, and why and how they report what they determine as being ‘the news’; or finally, perhaps it looks like news reporting that prioritises human understanding and the elevation of intrinsic values alongside information transmission.
Is it likely that transformation of this kind will be painless and straightforward for mainstream media organisations that are, as they stand, largely operating on a for-profit basis, or in the case of public service broadcasters, measuring their success by the same metrics? No, because that, in itself, means that the sector is, more often than not, dominated by a certain set of values that serve to grow that profit. A different, though embryonic, media landscape can be glimpsed, in alternatives, such as local and/or crowd-funded media like The Bristol Cable, The Ferret and Positive News; in projects like The Constructive Journalism Project, or even the Mirror’s Britain Talks; in networks like The Responsible Media Forum; and in the exploration of People Powered Storytelling and co-creational media by the Public Interest News Foundation.
These are just some of the issues we’re exploring through the Values in the Media project and in our upcoming event on the 28th November in Bishopsgate, London. If you’d like to join us, please register here.
Photo by Jorge Gardner on Unsplash