Energy, ag and environment journalists trust academics

My communications career started in politics, which I think is a great way to start because people assume you're lying until you prove otherwise. Whenever one side says something (anything, even if it's backed up by easily verifiable facts), a reporter is compelled to talk to the "other side."

I was pretty amazed then, when I left the political world and took a job as the director of communications for the University of South Dakota. I was amazed that whatever the university professors said to the press went virtually unchallenged, no matter how (in)sane it was. I came to realize that, in the minds of journalists, professors didn't need to be balanced by quotes from the "other side" because they were viewed as the objective referees.

According to a recent survey from Brodeur Partners, that same opinion is shared by journalists covering energy, agriculture and the environment. When the 118 responding journalists were asked what sources sources of information they found most credible, academic institutions won handily. The percentage of journalists viewing them as very credible was 62 percent, which was more than double that opinion for government bodies, which came in second at 29 percent. A total of 96 percent viewed academic institutions as very or somewhat credible and not one journalists viewed them as not at all credible.

There's a lot more information in the Brodeur Cleantech Media Survey that should be of interest to green communicators, so be sure to check it out. If, for some reason, you would prefer a guy talking about the survey to a camera at his desk, you can watch it here: