Greater transparency essential for leaders to rebuild public trust, says Edelman

Greater transparency essential for leaders to rebuild public trust, says Edelman

Richard Edelman, CEO of Edelman, emphasised that governments must usher in a new era of cooperation and transparency with the media and citizens after public trust in their leaders has hit an all-time low. "When two thirds of the world's people say their leaders are liars, there's a real problem," Edelman said during a virtual session entitled 'Embedding Trust and Authenticity in the Next Generation of Leaders' at the first day of the World Government Summit Dialogues. Edelman offered an example as to why public trust is rock bottom right now. "Hydroxychloroquine - it was first touted as a cure for COVID-19 and then turned out to not be effective at all," he said referring to one of the first espoused medical antidotes to the pandemic before any tests had been conducted. He went on to explain, "the big issue today is competence, delivering new promises and ensuring fairness and a good outcome. In this sense the governments in the Middle East have done well as they have seen greater success in managing COVID-19, delivery of vaccines and getting people back to work. Confidence in the government has been low in the West, in Europe and the US, where governments