 In an age of misinformation and disinformation, who do you trust?
In Australia, it’s the government. The latest trust report from the OECD, puts Australia ahead of the pack when it comes to trust, although with a sizeable exception. The OECD Australia breakdown released for 2023 shows:
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 I broke up with alcohol. Because it lied and cheated on me.
After many decades together, I thought we had a mutually beneficial relationship. But I got to the point where I realised alcohol did not have my back, and there wasn’t one benefit in sticking with it. There were lies all around. Alcohol-induced lies. Lies I told myself. Lies society kept throwing at me at every turn, on every street corner.
 Who’s to blame for the mayhem that social media creates in the virtual and real worlds?
The world’s richest man and X owner Elon Musk? Harvard drop-out, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg? Or is it the Chinese behemoths WeChat, WeBo and TikTok? None of them. It’s us - ordinary folk like you and me who became infatuated with our smartphones. We got sucked into the vanity game of pursuing connections, likes and influence. We paid the price, giving away our personal deets and opening our lives for leveraging by the tech titans. We sold control, just as businesses, community groups and public authorities sold control by becoming dependent on those channels too. 2024 Edelman survey finds growing trust in government in Australia - and 3 ways to supercharge that25/3/2024  Australians trust government, according to the much-anticipated 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer results. Almost.
The barometer put Australia’s trust ranking at 50% - an improvement of 5 percentage points on the previous year. This makes us 11th, or better than mid-table, on the ladder of 28 global countries surveyed. It means Australians, on the whole, have moved from distrusting government to now being in neutral territory. We owe a lot to the Greeks when it comes to understanding effective communication.
One Greek, in particular. Aristotle. Aristotle was the A-list celebrity of the classical period of Ancient Greece, some three hundred years before Christ. Aristotle was a thought leader. He wrote about maths, biology, weather, theatre and dance, psychology, even zoology. Aristotle was an outstanding philosopher. Much of our knowledge today is based on his works. And any modern communicator should regard him as an idol. Ethos, pathos, logos In his essay the Art of Rhetoric, Aristotle wrote about the three essentials to powerful communications. They are as relevant today as they were in his time - when public speaking, not social media was the main means of communicating a message to the masses. Aristotle - with characteristic clarity - defined the art of communicating as requiring ethos, pathos and logos. >> Learn more in this three-minute video Video explainer: 3 reasons why trust has surged in Australia, ahead of anywhere else in the world1/2/2021 Who would’ve thought? In government, we trust.
The 2021 Edelman Trust Barometer reveals Australia has enjoyed the greatest increase in trust in institutions of all countries surveyed. Specifically, trust in government institutions surged 17% on the previous year. How a DIY Newsroom cuts through COVID chaos and puts communicators in the box seat as primary source28/10/2020 COVID-19 has taught us a bunch of stuff on how to cut through with our messaging in a time of crisis.
It has also shown us that, frankly, we need a new system for how we go about the business of professional communications. In the best of times, communications is far from a perfect science. If anything, it resembles a dark art - one where the right solutions are never quite clear until delivery. As early adopters of new technology, communicators are at the cutting edge. As such, we do a lot on the run, which also means we work in a state of perpetual befuddlement as we compete in the Attention Economy. Amid the various models of content marketing, public relations, corporate affairs, digital and social marketing, and traditional PR and advertising, there is much grey. Organisations can therefore waste time, money and effort as they seek the best way to connect with communities of interest and customers. COVID has taught us the hard lesson of cutting to the chase - to zone on the fastest and most direct route to audiences.  COVID-19 shows we are still a socially dependent species despite globalisation and the impact of the digital economy on our lives.
Five years ago, I began working from home as a communications consultant after decades of working in fast-paced and highly social newsrooms and offices. As a sociable person, it took me some time to adapt to the situation and to find my mojo in the home workspace. But I have. So, how do you make the most of the situation now? How do you give yourself the best start? How do you deal with distractions? And how can you keep a work mindset? Here’s five insights of what I’ve learned from working at home: |
AuthorStuart Howie is a Canberra-based media and communications strategist. He has worked with private and public organisations in Australia and New Zealand, helping them to discover, shape and tell their stories. He is the author of The DIY Newsroom, which won the social media/technology category at the Australian Business Book Awards. 
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