Some media stories of note for Tuesday, May 7, 2013:

Steve Buttry, the digital transformation editor for Digital First Media, has been publishing a series of advice for editors. His latest is a succinct entreaty to admit mistakes. "You’re not perfect," he writes. "You know it and your staff knows it. Admitting your own errors (and apologizing for them, if an apology is due) builds credibility with your staff, especially if you’re going to be critical of them."

Randy Bennett, a former newspaper executive writing for TVNewsCheck, argues that there are parallels in the decline of newspapers and the early stages of decline in local television. The audience and advertisers are moving to digital, but the returns are not as significant. He asserts that local TV needs to learn lessons from the other medium's adaptation (or lack thereof) by diversifying revenue (in part through sponsored content), embracing user content, exploring partnerships, and moving more effort into mobile applications.

James Poniewozik, writing for Time, looks at this past weekend's interview of media writer Howard Kurtz on his own show for his handling of last week's story of NBA player Jason Collins, the first active professional athlete to declare he is gay. Kurtz erred in his initial reporting on the issue, parted ways with the Daily Beast, then found himself under scrutiny for his involvement in a startup firm. He became a story himself. Poniewozik said it was a healthy sign that media critics can themselves subject themselves to scrutiny, that critics can be critiqued.

A new Gallup poll indicates American confidence in television news has reached an all-time low. Trust in newspapers is not as bad, but not much better.

The poll suggests only 21 per cent of Americans have confidence in television news, one point below last year's finding and down 25 points from Gallup's original research in 1963. Confidence in newspapers dropped to 25 per cent this year, down from 28 per cent last year and half of the 50-per-cent confidence rate of 1980.

Interestingly, those who identify themselves as liberals were among those whose confidence most declined, rivaling low-confidence levels by those who identify themselves as conservatives. 

Gallup could not conclude why television news confidence dropped as it did, but noted the poll was taken before recent cable news mishaps involving the Supreme Court decision on health care legislation --- meaning, the results might even be lower today.

Gallup suggests all networks "will have to renew their efforts to show Americans that they deserve a higher level of confidence than what they enjoy today." 

Among the 16 institutions Gallup studied, confidence in newspapers ranked tenth and television news eleventh. The military, small business, the police, organized religion, the medical system, the presidency, the Supreme Court, public schools and the justice system ranked ahead of them. Only organized labour, banks, big business, health maintenance organizations (HMOs) and Congress ranked lower.