Case Study

Why creator journalists and funders need to go all in on transparency

By Mollie Muchna

November 13, 2025

This resource is part of the Creator Journalism Trust and Credibility Toolkit from the Knight Communities Network, Project C, and Trusting News, which helps funders identify — and fund — creator journalists in their local ecosystem. Find more information here, or reach out to Project C and Trusting News.  

See if this sounds familiar: You’re looking to purchase a new product online, but as you research reviews about the product’s quality and usefulness, you’re left feeling unsure about what’s actually true. Is this influencer or blog touting the benefits because they’re getting paid to do so? Do they actually use this product and find it helpful – or are they exaggerating or making up reviews for ad revenue and online exposure?     

You may have also found yourself on the other side of this situation, disappointed after purchasing a product that had great reviews but didn’t measure up to the quality people touted online. 

It’s frustrating to feel misled. It’s even more frustrating knowing that if people were transparent about whether reviews were paid for by advertisers, it might’ve changed whether you purchased it in the first place.  

These same feelings of skepticism and frustration apply to how people approach information online. There are many people sharing news and analysis, with more emerging each day, and it’s challenging to know if what’s being shared is actually authentic and true. 

This can be especially tricky for creator journalists, who primarily share content online alongside other news influencers who may not have the same goal of sharing independent, truthful information with their communities. 

That’s why transparency is so needed. News is just like any product, and people are right to be skeptical of the information they’re seeing online. If journalists want to be viewed as trusted messengers, they have to get clear about what sets their product apart.  

The public wants transparency    

In Reuters’ 2024 Digital News Report, researchers surveyed audiences across the globe about what influences people’s level of trust in news. What they found was that transparency was the most named factor, with 72% of respondents saying it was important to them when considering which news outlets felt trustworthy.    

At Trusting News, we’ve trained journalists since 2016 on how to stand out as trusted, credible sources in their community. What we continually find is that it’s not enough for journalists to just do ethical journalism and hope people will notice and trust them. What’s needed is for journalists to get clear about why they are trustworthy. 

The good news is that research shows when journalists are transparent about the how and the why behind their coverage – whether sharing mission, ethics or decision making –  it boosts people’s trust in that content. 

Transparency requires a critical shift

Most journalists agree that transparency is important. After all, journalists ensure people in power are held to account, so it only makes sense for journalists to allow the public to do the same for them. 

But too often, journalists treat transparency like a nice-to-have rather than a vital step in delivering information to audiences. How can journalists reach people with crucial information about health care, climate change, democracy, etc. if people are unclear about which information they’re seeing is actually factual and true? The short answer is we won’t.

Getting transparent doesn’t need to be complicated. Often, we’ve seen that it’s small transparency in day-to-day coverage that helps audiences most. Take this example from creator journalist and tech reviewer Becca Farsace sharing the ethics behind her sponsorships and brand deals. The hundreds of positive YouTube comments go to show that people are hungry for the type of transparency and integrity Farsace shows here.  

Transparency is needed across the information ecosystem 

This investment in transparency is needed across the journalism industry, whether you’re an up-and-coming creator journalist or work for a longstanding legacy outlet. People are flooded by a sea of information online. It’s overwhelming, and without clear guidance as to what’s factual and credible, people will be left feeling confused or will tune out altogether. 

An investment is needed from funders, too. We often hear from journalists that they see the need for this type of transparency work, but they lack the training or time to do it properly. We need funders to invest real money in supporting journalists, especially creator journalists, who are reaching audiences otherwise tuned out from the news. 

At the end of the day, we won’t have people consuming accurate information without transparency. So if we care about the public having access to responsible, ethical news, it’s time for us to go all in.  

As part of a new Creator Journalism Trust and Credibility Toolkit from the Knight Communities Network, Trusting News, and Project C, we created two resources to help both creator journalists and funders invest in this work. 

• A checklist for creator journalists. We created a checklist to help creator journalists understand the basic ethics of journalists and how they can be transparent about those ethics to their audience. 
• A guide for funders. The guide helps funders find – and fund – creator journalists and includes a checklist to help funders assess which creator journalists are ethically aligned. 

Need guidance? Reach out to Trusting News and Project C.