It matters if the media is trusted

A new book landed on my desk last week. Entitled Can You Trust the Media?, at first glance it looked like yet another tirade against falling press standards, but it turned out, instead, to pose an altogether different question: is trust really necessary?

Pouncing on what he calls society's "trust obsession", Adrian Monck, professor of journalism at London's City University, believes we are looking down the wrong end of the telescope if we want to trust the media.

Instead, society needs to become more transparent, with wider access being made to public information, so readers and viewers can be better informed.