Edelman's 2018 Trust Barometer – Who are they trying to kid?

By Graham Vanbergen: The 2018 ‘Trust Barometer’ is Edelman’s 18th annual trust and ‘credibility’ survey, measuring trust across a number of institutions, sectors and geographies. The ‘Trust Barometer’ surveys more than 33,000 respondents across 28 countries.
 
According to Edelman, this year’s findings reveal a flatline in trust across the institutions of government, business, media and NGOs in the UK. Trust in business fell to 43 percent, whilst the other three institutions saw no change at all.
One should not forget, this was from all time lows of their own findings anyway and that they act as a PR agency for some of the worlds biggest corporations – but don’t declare who they are.
 
Falling into line with a largely paranoid American oligarchy and British political elite, the Edelman barometer tells us that we should not believe anything at all except the official narrative spewed out by government propaganda machines owned by tax evading billionaires.
 
“The survey found that social media companies have lost the trust of most of the public, with only a quarter of the UK population now saying that they trust social media as a source for news and information. Where social media companies were once seen as champions of free speech and democracy, they are now seen as not taking enough responsibility for key issues including extremism, fake news, and cyberbullying. As a consequence, the majority of people are now calling for greater regulation in the sector.”
 
So are the leaders of every state in the democratic west because they are unable to control it – so they want to control it! In other words, according to Edelman, many people are miraculously buying into the idea, through the mainstream media that we should be deprived of the use of the only major platforms we have to challenge that same corporate narrative! That’s odd isn’t it.
 
And before you know it, hey presto – the key findings in the ‘trust barometer’ includes the statement that: “There has been a huge increase in trust in traditional media (61 percent), reaching levels not seen since 2012. There has also been a rebound in faith in experts and leaders.”
 
Who are they trying to kid? After the bitter Scottish referendum, the Brexit con-trick, the 2017 election, the Grenfell disaster, the dramatic destruction of the NHS unfolding before our eyes, constant waves of political scandals and infighting and mismanagement such as the Carillion collapse – increasing numbers of people have continually asserted that they have no faith in the mainstream media of Britain, or experts and especially ‘leaders’. Just one small piece of evidence is the drastic fall in newspaper circulation and an almost universal experience of their loss making online activities, not least the outrageous and shameful behaviour of many of our corporations.
 
Edelman even confirmed it themselves – “Despite this, there are big structural issues for media in general, people are consuming less media and some are actively avoiding it altogether (19 percent).”
 
If there has been such a drastic turnaround for mainstream media, why are 1 in 5 actively avoiding it and the balance hardly bothering? They go even further than that – “Only six percent of people now consider themselves part of the informed public – those who consume business or political news several times a week, reaching an all time low.” How is that a statement that supports the view that there has been a “huge increase in trust in traditional media.”
 
Just over a year ago a survey by Ipsos Mori found: “Only 22% of the British public say they tend to trust the press, the lowest rating in Europe.” In other words, 78%, over three-quarters of the public, say they tend not to trust the press, the worst trust rating by a long way – beyond Greece on 65%, and Serbia on 63%”. Just a few months before that, YouGov itself even reported that the British press was not only the most right-wing press in Europe, that it was heavily biased, but that it was unable to report the truth on matters such as housing, health, immigration and especially economics.
 
Edelman gets it wrong again when it comes to (as described by some in the MSM, as the most incompetent) government. Edelman said:  “Trust in Government remains very low at 36 percent (in 2017) and the majority feel as though their views are not represented in politics today.”  But just last year this ‘trust barometer’ stated “Trust in the British government, which was already low at 36% at the start of last year, fell to 26% by the start of 2017. So if trust started at 26% in 2017 and rose by 38% to 36% by the end of it, you would think that was a significant gain. This is simply a play on words. But then again, Edelman is a public relations business.
 
Not satisfied with confusing everyone with utter nonsense, Edelman joins the anti-Brexit pack by reminding half of Britain that they are at fault for everything that has gone wrong – ever. “When looking at the bigger picture, Britain remains subdued with distrust continuing across the board and Britons are becoming more pessimistic about their economic outlook.”
 
Apologies in advance for the profanity, I’m struggling to find the words but – No shit Sherlock!
 
And here is another gem of fabrication from the very small sample of 2,000 respondents that were supposedly representing 66 million people, one third of whom now live on the economic brink. “However, an opportunity lies with business to fill the gap where others are falling short. Particularly if there is a focus on reputational drags like executive pay and tax, and considering rising trust in CEOs.”
 
Hahahahahahahaha. I’ve never heard such rubbish my entire life. Imagine a Theresa May, supported by the likes of Fox, Gove, Johnson, Hunt, et all restraining executive pay and tax – you can’t. Think Carillion. Think Branson and all the others at the trough. Britain has 6 of its 10 top ten corporations who pay no corporation tax at all. Thanks to the Paradise Papers, Lux Leaks, Panama Papers and all the others, Britain is now known to be the world’s biggest money launderer through Her Majesties own territory of tax havens. God knows, even she is in on the act. Not content, the banks in the City of London are also coining it in on activities such as arms dealings, human trafficking, drugs, prostitution and many other horrendous crimes against humanity. Edelman is living in some sort of nonparallel universe – obviously. Do we have any honest business, political or religious leaders left?
 
Edelman does finally speaks some truth though but even that is ultimately wrong. “The biggest concerns for the future of Britain include ensuring the NHS is able to provide care for an ageing and growing population (79 percent) and the worry of rising political or religious extremism (72 percent). There is little hope for the immediate future as only 20 percent feel their standard of living will improve in 2018 and 36 percent expect it to worsen.”
 
This is PR speak, these are serious concerns but not the highest on a long list. What they actually meant to say was that the current government, supported by offshore billionaire media tycoons and American vulture capitalists want to continue to privatise the NHS, hence the destruction of the worlds most admired health system into the worlds worst (I’ll bet you can’t guess which country that might be) and that the government have dragged the country into the disaster that has turned the middle east into a raging inferno of death and destruction, hence massively increasing terrorism back home. In the meantime, as a result of rising inequality, poverty, austerity and a housing crisis all caused by out of control bankers and their political puppets – a national depression seems to have arrived – because of, well, all the above. But there’s more.
 
What Edelman forgot to ask and gets results for was that Britain now faces a mountain of issues, many of which are tied to Brexit. Inflation is surging, consumer spending is slowing, productivity remains mired in pre-crisis growth levels, and uncertainty reigns supreme. But even these are least of our problems. Edelman is not getting to the real scourge of our society deliberately.
 
Peter Hitchins, the ‘repentant Thatcherite’ describes in detail the “Great con that ruined Britain.” Hitchins was never to know at the time of writing, that the entire country would be highjacked and that economically speaking Britain is now circling the plughole in a deliberate act of sabotage in one final orgy of neoliberal rape and pillage.
 
The journalist who wrote -“The great British Brexit robbery: how our democracy was hijacked” won a coveted award and quite rightly so and is since mired in legal battles with the newspaper that printed it with the oligarch’s that don’t like being exposed for what they really are.
 
The architect and grand master of modern propaganda Edward Bernays once said “The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. …We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind.”
 
Edelman is one of them.
 
 

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