There is a sustained decline in public trust in government, corporations, the media and even non-governmental organisations (NGOs), not only in Malawi, but globally!
Why is it so, and what could be the solution?
According to the 2024 Afrobarometer opinion poll, titled ‘African insights 2024: Democracy at Risk’ 89 percent of Malawians believe the country is heading in the wrong direction due to rising corruption, lack of accountability coupled with economic and political shortcomings.
Similarly, democracy scorecard released by Afrobarometer in June 2024 shows the satisfaction with democracy declined from 53 percent in 2013 to 40 percent in 2022.
Across 30 countries surveyed consistently over the past decade, support for democracy has declined by seven percentage points.
A collapse of public trust has been reported in numerous studies for years.
However, the malaise in contemporary societies is not confined to politics. Trust in business and corporations is also in decline—and has been for a number of years.
Even NGOs, which include major charities, institutions such as churches and aid organisations, have seen public trust and support plummet.
While trust in government recovered during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2022 Edelman Trust Barometer reported that trust in government declined again with only slightly more than half of all people trusting government (52 percent) and only half trusting mainstream media.
Political scientists, journalists and social commentators have been observing this widespread concern that democracy is in decline.
Why should this be the case when governments, public and private corporations, NGOs, churches and others are undertaking significant public communication initiatives and distribution of information to advise people of policies, programmes and the availability of services?
Annually, billions of dollars are spent in advertising and public relations. Companies and governments have also established social media presence in the hope of being accessible to their clients and various ‘publics.’
There are undoubtedly several causes of falling public trust, disengagement, public frustration and negative public sentiment, some likely due to political factors and economic conditions.
However, this author argues that the problem of declining trust lies in the fact that most organisations, including governments, are only interested in talking and disseminating information to people instead of listening to them.
Even social media platforms, which are designed for two-way interactive communication and sociality, are used primarily by most organisations for speaking to promote their brands, products, services and policies.
If we look around, everyone is talking but no-one is genuinely listening.
This organisation-centric and predominantly one-way communication approach conflicts with human communication theory, normative theories of public relations and corporate communication that advocate two-way communication and democratic political theory that calls for meaningful stakeholder and citizen consultation and participation.
Effectiveness of public communication by organisations is conceived primarily as their effectiveness at speaking.
Listening has not been recognised as part of the process other than for periodic research to gain insights that aid organisation planning and targeting.
Author Jim Macnamara has observed what he calls ‘selective listening.’
For example, governments listen mostly to major business, industrial and community organisations which may or may not fully represent their constituencies; corporations often listen only to major customers and partners; and even public consultations and stakeholder engagement often hear only from the ‘usual suspects’—the large established organisations, lobbyists and highly organized and professionalized groups.
The ordinary citizens have, therefore, concluded that if you do not listen to them and take on board their concerns, you do not care about them.
The result is that their trust in governments and institutions falters over time. It’s not rocket science!
Political leaders, corporates and heads of major institutions ought to abandon outdated concepts of one-way, top-down mass communication, believing that they know best and everyone should be swayed by their viewpoints or ideas.
To create public trust, engagement, and a positive reputation, organisations need to create and operationalise an architecture of listening.
