7 case studies show how news companies are successfully building trust

By Dawn McMullan

INMA

Dallas, Texas, USA

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By Veera Törmä

Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences

Helsinki, Finland

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By Viivi Koski

Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences

Helsinki, Finland

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During last week week’s INMA Media Innovation Week in Helsinki, attendees got a quick dive into four topics key to the news industry via seven-minute presentations. 

Here are seven case studies on the topic of trust presented at the conference:

Helsingin Sanomat’s Counterstrike for free press

In Finland, Helsingin Sanomat, the largest daily newspaper in the Nordics, leads the way in non-traditional marketing. Their goal is to reach audiences they wouldn't connect with through traditional advertising while raising awareness of social issues and engaging the community.

Laura Hyvärinen, head of marketing at Helsingin Sanomat, shared a bold example of the company’s innovative approach with attendees of Media Innovation Week. For its latest project, the publisher used an online shooting game to deliver independent journalistic content to Russia.

Laura Hyvärinen, head of marketing at Helsingin Sanomat, detailed the publisher's Counterstrike initiative.
Laura Hyvärinen, head of marketing at Helsingin Sanomat, detailed the publisher's Counterstrike initiative.

The game in question, Counterstrike, features user-created maps where players compete. Helsingin Sanomat collaborated with map creators to hide journalistic material within the game, allowing players to discover it. This hidden content, produced by Helsingin Sanomat journalists, included videos, audio, and text about the war in Ukraine — offering verified information in a country with restricted media access.

The primary audience for this campaign was young Russian men who frequently play the game. While it's impossible to know exactly how many players discovered the hidden content, Hyvärinen said the map had tens of thousands of downloads before it was banned in Russia just a few weeks after launch. 

By all accounts, the campaign was a success: It gained attention from Russian media and reached its target audience.

Hyvärinen advocates for bold brand actions in today’s intensive media landscape, where consumers are constantly bombarded with information across multiple platforms, Hyvärinen said.

“There are more ads now than ever,” she said. 

At Helsingin Sanomat, only about 10% of the marketing budget is directed towards these unconventional campaigns, but the impact is significant: “We could never get this kind of attention without taking bold risks.”

However, Hyvärinen emphasized the importance of aligning these non-traditional campaigns with brand values. You need to ensure that whatever you’re doing reflects the company’s core principles and that the brand lives up to them. Skipping this step increases the risk of damaging the brand image.

Her final piece of advice for those considering this kind of marketing: Dare to fail. She recounted how her team forgot to inform the legal department about their Counterstrike project until just days before the launch, which led to a scramble to make changes and numerous difficult discussions. “That was one of the small hiccups — I don’t even want to tell you about the big ones,” she said with a chuckle.

Collaboration of rivals fights disinformation

In 2016 a team of journalists, developers, and designers worked in silence as a shift was made across the world where emotional appeal held more value than objective facts. As stories about the war in Ukraine spread across social media, they responded. 

With fake news stories gaining traction, especially on social media, these organisations recognised the need for a unified, credible source to counter the rising tide of disinformation. This led to the creation of Faktisk, a collaborative fact-checking platform designed to provide the public with accurate, trustworthy information.

Faktisk is an independent organisation that offers free, verified news to all Norwegian media outlets, standing at the forefront of verification journalism in the country.

Helje Solberg, news director at NRK Norway, explained how the partnership between these seven publishers worked.
Helje Solberg, news director at NRK Norway, explained how the partnership between these seven publishers worked.

But why a team of rivals? Helje Solberg, news director at NRK Norway, explained the reasons behind the collaboration. 

Platforms like Faktisk are challenging to promote and often expensive to maintain. However, with the support of the country’s largest media organisations, Faktisk was not only given credibility but also the resources to succeed. 

“It’s built to last,” Solberg said, emphasising that the project’s backing by multiple companies makes it stronger and more resilient.

Solberg also shared what it took for this collaboration to work: trust was essential. She highlighted several factors that were key to the project's success:

  • Transparency and shared goals: The participating organisations had to be open and honest about their objectives.

  • Contribution from all parties: Every participant needed to bring something valuable to the table, whether it was funding, expertise, or strategic advice.

  • A shared vision: The project had to unite everyone behind a common purpose, ensuring it benefited all parties equally.

  • Positive working relationships: Cooperation was crucial; team members had to not only work together but also genuinely enjoy doing so. “You have to actually like each other,” Solberg says.

This unique collaboration significantly strengthened the media landscape in Norway. By creating Faktisk, these media houses established a tool that strengthens the credibility of Norwegian journalism. Today, Faktisk plays an indispensable role in ensuring the public has access to fact-checked, reliable news, and it has become a crucial tool for verified journalism.

What began as an unlikely partnership among competitors has resulted in a powerful platform that serves the entire media ecosystem in Norway, reinforcing the value of truth in an age dominated by misinformation.

Prisa’s VerificAudio initiative

In Spain, Prisa Media launched an innovative project aimed at building trust and delivering verified news. As Artificial Intelligence continues to reshape the media landscape, developing tools to authenticate factual information has become critical. 

“AI is changing the world we live in, and it’s dangerous,” Luis Baena, chief marketing officer at Prisa Media, told attendees.

The rise of deepfakes and synthetic voice files is a growing concern as these fake videos and audios spread rapidly on social media, threatening the integrity of news, he said. 

“It doesn’t even take long — anyone can create these fakes in seconds,” Baena warned. This is particularly alarming given that “half the world is currently going through general elections” where the spread of false information can have serious consequences.

During the presentation, attendees were shown two voice recordings — one real and one synthetically generated. None of the participants could tell the difference. This is where VerificAudio steps in. The tool was developed to distinguish between human voices and synthetically produced audio. 

Luis Baena, chief marketing officer at Prisa Media, detailed the VerificAudio protocol.
Luis Baena, chief marketing officer at Prisa Media, detailed the VerificAudio protocol.

Training the model was relatively easy, Baena said. By feeding VerificAudio with both fake and authentic voice recordings, the tool learned to identify subtle differences between the two.

In newsrooms, VerificAudio plays a vital role in detecting manipulated audio. For example, an audio file might contain only 30% synthetic content, signaling to the journalist that it has been altered. While the tool boasts 90% accuracy, Baena stressed the importance of cautious journalism. Reporters should still rely on traditional fact-checking methods, using VerificAudio as a final step to detect even minor alterations in audio files.

Across Spain and Latin America, newsrooms are continuously working to improve VerificAudio. A dedicated committee shares best practices and insights to further improve the tool. As synthetic audio becomes more common, Verific Audio has become indispensable in ensuring the credibility of news and protecting the integrity of media during these uncertain times.

Südkurier Medienhaus’ “We are one of you” campaign

People are missing a love for journalism.

“In Germany, most people have never been taught what journalism actually is or why it matters. Most people generally think negatively about journalists,” Matthias Kiechle, chief digital officer for Südkurier Medienhaus, said. 

The company wanted to improve communication between journalists and local readers, so they came up with the slogan “Wir sind Einer von Euch” (“We are one of you”). 

Matthias Kiechle, chief digital officer for Südkurier Medienhaus, shared detailed of the campaign, which include local debates.
Matthias Kiechle, chief digital officer for Südkurier Medienhaus, shared detailed of the campaign, which include local debates.

With this slogan, they wanted to let readers know that journalists are, in fact, a part of the local community and care as much about what is happening in the region as the readers do. In addition, they photographed the journalists in their local spots to make the message clearer. 

Then they started to act: hosting debates about local topics in various forms — in the newspapers, on YouTube, in theaters, and finally, online. They created a new debate platform where readers could vote, contribute and discuss local issues

“Be proud of your journalists,” Kiechle said. “They are our product.”

Revitalising Die Welt’s community

Welt Community was sparked by a significant issue: long-time, loyal subscribers, some of whom had been with the publication for many years, were starting to cancel their subscriptions, Martin Kohls, head of product at Welt, said.

Additionally, Die Welt faced the challenge of declining appeal among its audience. At its core, Die Welt’s community has always valued the exchange of opinions. However, due to the moderation team’s overwhelming workload and delays in handling comments, customers became dissatisfied.

Martin Kohls, head of product at Welt, shared detailed of the publisher's community outreach efforts.
Martin Kohls, head of product at Welt, shared detailed of the publisher's community outreach efforts.

Their first step in addressing these issues was implementing AI-powered comment moderation, which, according to Kohls, was a huge success for both readers and the moderation team, and enhanced the satisfaction of the community members. 

Another improvement was the introduction of a new interactive format: a live video chat, where Welt journalists engage directly with readers by answering their questions in real time. Users have embraced it, appreciating the direct, eye-level dialogue.

Kohls shared these three lessons learned:

  1. Keep your creators happy.
  2. Focus on the right problem (here: discussion culture).
  3. Small steps might have huge impact.

Gazeta Wyborcza/Agora’s “Read over manipulation” campaign

Roman Imielski, deputy editor-in-chief of Gazeta Wyborcza/Agora in Poland, has lived many years of his life under communist rule. In this “crazy time for my country and my paper, too” — and in response to attacks on the national media — Gazeta Wyborcza/Agora created a campaign to fight back.

The “law and justice” party publicly called journalists liars and turned the country’s public media into simple propaganda. During the election in October 2023, which that party lost, Gazeta Wyborcza/Agora created a campaign to stand up for women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and other progressive values.

“We created a series of videos showing the manipulation process,” Imielski explained. “We showed that carefully reading over content may prevent manipulation and how little it takes to be misled.”

Roman Imielski, deputy editor-in-chief of Gazeta Wyborcza/Agora, detailed the publisher's campaign in response to political attack.
Roman Imielski, deputy editor-in-chief of Gazeta Wyborcza/Agora, detailed the publisher's campaign in response to political attack.

The campaign, which changed just one letter or a word, showed nuances can change the meaning of something.

The digital campaign had more than 22.5 million views, reached eight million people who previously had had no contact with the Gazeta Wyborcza Web site — 500,000 of which were new readers.

“Truth is important. Words are important,” Imielski said. “The war is not over. We are a target of Russian disinformation, fake news, and many conspiracy theories, of course. During this time, many people want to pay for the subscription because we are a credible media outlet.”

Political leaders become editor-in-chief for a day at De Telegraaf 

Ten days before the parliamentarian elections in 2023, De Telegraaf invited the leaders of The Netherlands’ seven main political parties to be editor-in-chief for a day, each creating their own home page.

The special edition, leading up to the election, gave readers an opportunity to get involved with the country’s political parties in a different way, Kamran Ullah, chief editor, said.

“And for the political leaders, it was an opportunity to reach our readers directly,” he said. “We got a yes from all the parties that were involved. The parties were completely free to fill the pages themselves. Anything really goes as long it is within the law.”

Kamran Ullah, chief editor at De Telegraaf, shared how the publisher's editor-in-chief for a day worked with the country's seven main parties.
Kamran Ullah, chief editor at De Telegraaf, shared how the publisher's editor-in-chief for a day worked with the country's seven main parties.

The condition was that the leaders agreed to be interviewed by De Telegraaf journalists.

The event got a lot of media attention. The political leaders, many of whom had never been in a newsroom, were followed live on social media platforms. They also had interesting conversations with each other during the day, Ullah said.

“It was a successful event, contributing to bringing politics closer to our readers, increasing trust in politics, media, and democracy.”

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