In light of the #fakenews phenomenon, credit unions are wondering how to share their story and position themselves as trusted advisers when the very institution they’re using to convey the message—the news outlets—are falling out of favor with many Americans.

CUinsight Founder/Publisher Randy Smith is concerned about being able to grab readers’ attention from the start. Recent studies have shown that consumers have an attention span shorter than that of a goldfish. The media has to do something to bring readers in, so they give headlines a little sex appeal, but taken too far, those headlines are lambasted as sensationalism to drive clicks. Editors don’t want the reader disappointed when they click through, but at the same time readers could miss valuable content if they don’t pay attention to the story because of a dull headline.

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The news media are definitely stuck between a rock and a hard place, but gameFI Co-Founder Matt Davis said it’s not just attention they’re competing for—it’s revenue. Readers expect content for free and 10 years ago, news outlets gladly gave it because they charged advertisers based upon clicks, but simple clicks don’t cut it anymore. Advertisers bartered harder and harder (and discovered the power of producing their own content) as readers grew fickler until no one wanted to pay news services anymore. A couple of the biggest outlets have clawed some subscriber-based revenue, but Davis’ overall point was: If you want a truly free and independent press, pay for it!

Otherwise what you’ll receive are headlines sensationalizing the “battle” between the banks and credit unions. These stories are propaganda at best and ultimately dangerous, Davis asserted. When credit unions take a whack-a-mole approach to bankers’ misdeeds—Bank of America ending free checking, for example—credit unions turn a blind eye to their own problems. “The practice is riddled with hypocrisy, hyperbole and misinformation,” he said. This practice only amplifies stories regarding credit unions’ occasional excessive compensation, fees and other issues. Bank of America is a for-profit company, and when the regulators are tightening the spigot on revenue streams the bank needs to find it elsewhere. Profit is not evil, even in not-for-profits.

“Keep in mind the concept of the lack of faith in institutions, and remind your employees to talk to members that you are an institution that they can put their faith in.” — Frank Diekmann

Readers are looking for trusted experts and institutions they can place their faith in, CUToday.info Cooperator-in-Chief Frank Diekmann said. Credit unions can be that institution. He told an ironic story of a banker rallying the troops at a banking conference that the only people who benefit from credit unions are their owners. Well, yeah. “The best propaganda in the world is the truth,” Diekmann quipped. A large part of restoring American’s faith in credit unions is restoring credit union employees’ faith in the philosophy and mission of credit unions.

Sarah Snell Cooke, Randy Smith, Frank Diekmann and Matt Davis

#Fakenews is a symptom of the larger problem of American’s waning faith in institutions, noting the back drop of the White House through the windows behind the panelists at The Hay-Adams. “Keep in mind the concept of the lack of faith in institutions,” Diekmann said, “and remind your employees to talk to members that you are an institution that they can put their faith in.”

Journalists believe in a mission as well. Most are human beings trying to do a good job to bring news to consumers. Just because you don’t like something that’s published doesn’t make it #fakenews, Cooke Consulting Solutions Principal Sarah Snell Cooke. She added, “Anything affecting the business of a credit union or the community can be news, and it’s the news publications’ responsibility to report those facts when they can affect the community at large—not just the CU trade press, but local and national media as well.”

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Cooke offered up an example from her days as publisher/editor-in-chief of Credit Union Times in which the publication ran an article on paid credit union boards and what individual members were earning. Some of the board members named in the article screamed at her in the middle of a conference vendor hall, not about the accuracy of the article but because they didn’t want it disclosed. The truth of the matter was the article stabbed at the heart of credit unions’ ‘volunteer’ structure and philosophy that they tout.

As Diekmann followed up, the idea that news outlets want to sensationalize stories is wrong. “It’s a bad long-term strategy for the media. It’s in our best interest to see credit unions succeed. So fair and truthful reporting should be the gold standard. We need to bring bad actors to light so we can heal the industry moving forward."