The Trust Deficit
- jeanne7629
- Sep 29
- 1 min read
“The Big Threat” is a podcast series from News Club / The Squiz that explores how disinformation and “fake news” are challenging democracies and how different countries are responding by teaching media literacy and building defences. There are about 6 episodes and I really recommend it. To give you a taste, here is one episode on the erosion of trust and what happens when it breaks down. I particularly enjoyed the first two guests: Professor David Buckingham and Dr Jon Roozenbeek.
Buckingham makes the point that a little mistrust can be healthy, but when it tips too far, when we start distrusting everything, systems quickly become dysfunctional.
Roozenbeek shared two fascinating ideas/concepts. The first is psychological inoculation: giving people “mental antibodies” against misinformation by exposing them to weakened examples of its tricks before they encounter the real thing.
The second is the what sociologist call the continued influence effect: once people are exposed to misinformation, even if it’s later corrected, they often continue to believe and revert back to the falsehood… I found this equally troubling and interesting.
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