What are trust and transparency worth today?

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Trust has taken on many forms in recent decades since the advent of the Internet. Before the onslaught of blogging and the rise of citizen journalism, a piece of published work in print denoted a significant degree of confidence and credibility. Since then, we’ve seen the standard of trust in the written word and in transparency decline in stages.

With the launch of informal digital publications and blogging platforms, publishing has become remarkably simple, while the internet democratized the ability to source and share information. But this has also muddied the waters around online media and the ability to deem what is accurate and verified versus what is sensationalized or opinion.

We certainly see this now in the social media age where profile verification or the number of followers denotes online credibility. Worst yet, users or news consumers can be swayed by viral content that can appear to be authentic or factual but is really a form of spin or designed only for comedic or engagement value, beyond anything else.

Today, the state of micro-publishing has given transparency and trust in information their final cuts. It seems that a grouping of 140 characters, misspelled words, and flavourful emojis are enough to convince a reader of authenticity.

Today, the state of micro-publishing has given transparency and trust in information their final cuts. We need look no further than the President Donald Trump who blatantly tweets at will, regardless of fact or fiction. It seems that a grouping of 140 characters, misspelled words, and flavourful emojis are enough to convince a reader of authenticity. It’s easy to understand the rise of fake news in such a society; everyone is a publisher and an editor.

Leveraging the transparent nature of blockchain technology, DNN looks to counter this with a peer-to-peer system that ensures community approval and agreement for each piece of writing that is published to the platform. Moreover, the technology creates an immutable chain of data, incentivizing authors to publish work based on genuine and sourceable facts. Effectively, blockchain is disrupting publishing by ensuring trust for the long term.

Why are trust and transparency in news media important and why are they significant to the culture of our society?

Transparency in news allows for a democratic society. If there is a filter applied to what we read, based on the preferences of corporation or state, then freedom of information is stifled and opportunity for fairness, openness for ideas, and public opinion are lost. We’ve seen this happen in countries across the world, and now we’re seeing it happen in America with publications — and politicians — heavily swayed and influenced by corporate and political bias.

“Economists have shown conclusively that societies where trust is low perform poorly.” — The Economist

Significantly, freedom of and access to accurate, factual information gives way to far greater opportunity for human equality. Corporate and political bias can often impede on freedom of thought, making clear that certain demographics are more likely to exhibit good or bad behaviour, to affect positive or negative connotations for particular groups. When honesty and objectivity are not pillars of news media, ideas are decidedly “right,” or “wrong,” as according to a publication’s governing, or financially supportive, body. We’ve seen this time and again in political reporting whereby the news reported is selectively chosen so as to shape the story around a preferred narrative.

Trust in a publication is garnered through fair and transparent reporting and it proves a greater commitment to progress and real accountability for what is distributed. In addition, a trusted media outlet can better establish a long term relationship with its community of readers and writers. In other words, demonstrating a balanced and honest approach to reporting equates to real credibility and likely a longer life span as a publication.

In a 2014 article extolling the virtues of transparency for business, Fast Company wrote, “transparent companies function at a higher level,” because “transparency… forces a team to work smarter together.”

Demonstrating commitment to transparency, the Decentralized News Network will introduce a new compensation model with the launch of their news platform. The model, built on Ethereum’s blockchain technology, removes the need for advertisers because the platform will not source revenue from display ads. Instead, the platform will run as a network, fueled by the DNN token. Each transaction that takes place, which includes reading, reviewing, and writing of an article, will be facilitated by DNN tokens and persisted to the Ethereum network.

DNN’s innovative system works to incentivise writers and honest reviewers, and removes the foggy environment corporate bias can create. Compensation is derived from, and delivered by, the community, so there is no opportunity for corporate bias, whether via advertisements, sponsored content or through some type of corporate board.

Compensation is derived from, and delivered by, the community, so there is no opportunity for corporate bias, whether via advertisements, sponsored content or through some type of corporate board.

Further, with blockchain technology governing the platform, DNN can transparently display how money is made and transacted, and for what and to whom tokens are paid out to.

An Ethereum blockchain-based news media platform such as DNN’s can create a new kind of transparency, dictated by a decentralized and open environment for information sharing and consumption.

It also ushers in a new era of social responsibility where ethics are placed at the forefront of an organization’s value system.

DNN is a news media platform based on a core set of values based around generating authentic, truthful, community-based news. Join the slack conversation now.