Trust Is Broken, But So Is the Playbook. It’s Time for PR to Lead.

According to the 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer, six in 10 Americans now say they hold grievances against business, government and the wealthy.

That’s 60% of people in the U.S. saying they believe business and government alike are serving the few, not the many. 

The sentiment is clear: the system isn’t working for most people, and they know it.

If you’re in public relations, that should hit you like a siren -- because this is our moment.

As PR professionals, we're being called to do more than craft soundbites and polish narratives. We're being asked to counsel leadership, to illuminate where trust is broken and more importantly, how to repair it.

Our value now lies in helping organizations see the opportunity in this trust crisis.

To build credibility with substance.

To show up consistently.

To make values legible.

To lean into stakeholder priorities and communicate with clarity and courage.

The public isn’t asking for perfection. They’re asking for honesty.

And it’s our job to ensure the organizations we advise understand that trust is is the strategy -- not some soft metric that can be put on the back burner.

The U.S. is in a trust deficit, one that is deepened by zero-sum thinking and decades of exclusionary systems. As communicators, we can’t fix every system. But we can push for accountability in the ones we influence. We can raise the standard of what it means to “show up.”

So let’s show up.

Let’s tell the stories that matter. Let’s elevate the leaders who are doing the work. Let’s guide our clients toward better, not because it’s good PR, but because it’s good leadership.

We won’t win everyone. But we can win over the people who matter most: our stakeholders.