Comments on: Edelman mid year Trust Barometer report shows declining trust – again

By: stuart

stuart — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 16:32:49 +0000

@Paul Good post, I’d be interested to see a response from someone at Edelman. My post was making a defense of MPs. Out of 650, there are bound to be some bad apples, but most are in it for what they can do (public service) rather than what they can get! If people only get their opinion about MPs from what is reported by the media, it’s little wonder they have little trust. And why we should expect it to be higher if it’s first hand.

@Rob Exactly. My good friend John Grogan is the Selby MP and only survived at the last election because so many local people think he is a good, hard working MP who delivers on local issues, despite them not supporting him politcally.

By: Rob Skinner

Rob Skinner — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 13:38:46 +0000

Well said, Stuart – I’m a case in point, as I’ve found my local Conservative MP Cheryl Gillan a really good constituency member, even though I’m hardly a Tory! It led me to give her the benefit of the doubt when she featured in the expenses scandal as the ‘dogfood MP’. (The fact the claim was for less than £5 also helped!)

By: Paul Seaman

Paul Seaman — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 14:55:11 +0000

We’ve got to stop taking people’s opinions at face value. Nobody trusts the media? Not until they reveal MPs’ expenses, surely? Bashing the media is an international sport played by millions, taken seriously by few. As PRs we know how influential the media are – be it old or new media. So dig beneath the surface of Edelman’s trust survey’s results and we might even find that the UK’s Parliamentary democracy is more trusted than the Chinese alternative. If nobody else will stick up for UK MPs, I shall. Here’s my reality check:

http://paulseaman.eu/2009/07/edelman-trust-survey-requires-scepticism-again/