Print media: a source of truth in the era of misinformation

In a world where misinformation spreads rapidly, print media stands as a symbol of trust and truth. With its tangible nature and enduring value, print media provides a reliable source of information, about the past just as much as for the future.

With print, comes trust. Traditional print media publications such as The Economist (est. 1943) and Time Magazine (est. 1923), have earned trust through producing valuable content for decades.

Washington Post publisher Philip L. Graham called journalism “the first rough draft of history.”

Once print media has been published, it can’t be changed - whereas its digital counterpart is fleeting, available one minute and gone the next. Print media is concrete, once the purchase has been made, it’s yours to hold and keep, the permanency of ink-on-paper.

In an era dominated by the rapid spread of misinformation online, the significance of traditional print media cannot be overstated.

That indelible first record is vital. It allows us to see how we interpreted events at that time, and to understand what we didn’t know as much as what we did. While national and international titles continue to play that vital role in “history-making”, there are great swathes of the population now living in “media deserts” with no access to local news or a local newspaper- such as 70 million people in Northwest USA. This is regarded by organisations such as the George W Bush Institute as having a corrosive impact on local democracy and cohesion.

In an era dominated by the rapid spread of misinformation online, the significance of traditional print media cannot be overstated. Loughborough University’s Online Civic Culture Centre’s study reveals a concerning trend, with 42.8% of news sharers admitting to circulating inaccurate or false news. The emergence of highly sophisticated “deepfakes” images only exacerbates this severe problem.

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According to Two Sides, more consumers believe they gain a deeper understanding of the story when read from print media (65%) over online news sources (49%.) But importantly, they trust the stories read in printed newspapers (51%) more than stories found on social media (24%). The majority of consumers (76%) indicated they were concerned about the trend of “fake news.”

In addition to the enduring nature of ink-on-paper, there's an inherent sense of security. In an era where data privacy is a paramount concern, the tangible realm of paper eliminates worries about accepting cookies, hacking threats, and ensures a tangible confirmation of signing.

Fostering a sense of trust and legitimacy through the tangible proof of ink on paper, hand-signed letters, passports, marriage certificates, and property deeds all rely on this time-honoured medium. Despite persistent counterfeiting attempts faced by paper passports, the process is constrained by the necessity for specialised ink and paper, emphasising the enduring value of these physical documents.

Tangible, effective and lasting. Make it trustworthy. Put it on Paper.

Print media: a source of truth in the era of misinformation

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