This week on the PRmoment podcast, I’m interviewing Louise Turner, head of Edelman Intelligence UK & Ireland.

Louise talks to us about Edelman’s annual Trust Barometer research for the UK  in a global context.

[00:02:23] How trust in the institutions that govern our society collapsed during the 2008 financial crash and has never recovered.

[00:02:42] How the Edelman Trust Barometer measures trust in our government, in our media, businesses and in the NGO sector.

[00:03:26] How there is a massive difference of 14 trust points between the Informed public, people in the upper quartile of household income and the mass population.

[00:04:26] How economic pessimism is a key driver of the gap in trust.

[00:05:49] How globally we no longer trust the leaders of our government, the leaders of our businesses or the leaders of our media institutions.

[00:07:01] The rise of everyday activism and its implications for trust.

[00:07:34] What are the results of society having less trust in its institutions?

[00:08:56] Why the UK data shows that one of our biggest worries is around declining tolerance in society.

[00:09:45] Why the UK is second to bottom in the global trust rankings, above only Russia.

[00:11:25] How trading uncertainty (Brexit) and the divide between the rich and poor are the major drivers of UK pessimism.

[00:12:12] Louise talks us through the most trusted channels of communications – comparing traditional media, search engines, owned media and social media.

[00:19:11] How businesses and NGOs have better trust scores than the media and the government.

[00:20:49] How 53% of people in the UK have lost faith in “capitalism as it exists today.” 

[00:22:40] How communicators can try to increase levels of trust.

[00:25:39] How employer trust scores are very high.

[00:25:58] Why partnerships between institutions will be key in rebuilding trust.

[00:27:31] The link between purpose and trust

[00:28:02] Louise identifies the key elements of trust: competence and ethics. There are three drivers of ethics – integrity, dependability and purpose.