A presentation on symbolism and the visual currencies that buy credibility. A Course on Narrative Building

1. Credibility
Currencies that Buy
AMIR JAHANGIR
SZABIST – VISUAL STORYTELLING AND
NARRATIVE BUILDING
17 MARCH 2023

2. Credibility
“How it’s defined?”
• the quality or power of inspiring belief.
Encyclopedia
Britannica
• “the quality of being trusted and believed in”.
Oxford Dictionary
• the objective and subjective components of
the believability of a source or message.
Wikipedia
• ‫۔‬ ‫اعتمادیت‬ ‫۔‬ ‫صداقت‬ ‫۔‬ ‫معتبریت‬ ‫۔‬ ‫یقین‬
Urdu-English
Dictionary

3. Credibility vs. Creditability:
Credibility:
• Credibility is a characteristic of a person who is perceived by others
to be a trusted advisor, believable, and confident by exhibiting a high
level of expertise in a certain subject.
Creditability:
• Creditability is the quality of a person 'deserving of credit [in a moral
or judgmental sense, rather than any monetary way] 'worthy‘ to be
rewarded'.

4. Religious views on Credibility
•Be self-controlled, sincere, truthful, loving, and full of the
desire to serve, Learn to be detached and to take joy in
renunciation.
Hinduism
•Speaking lies (slander) is called "motzi shem ra" - literally
spreading a bad name. Lo tisa shema shav - you shall not
utter a false report. Ex. 23:1)
Judaism
•“Speak the truth, do not yield to anger; give, if thou art
asked for little; by these three steps thou wilt go near the
gods.
Confucianism
•What can be asserted without evidence can also be
dismissed without evidence. Christopher Hitchens.
Atheism
•Spoken at the right time; Spoken with affection; Spoken
honestly; Spoken for the good of others; and Spoken with
the intent of doing good.
Buddhism
•These are the things that you shall do: Speak the truth to
one another; render in your gates judgments that are true
and make for peace. Zechariah 8:16
Christianity
•if there comes to you a disobedient one with information,
investigate, lest you harm a people out of ignorance and
become, regretful. (sūrat l-ḥujurāt .49:6)
Islam

5. Philosophical Views on Credibility
• Credibility can be established by demonstrating three
characteristics: intelligence, virtue, and goodwill.
Aristotle
• Falsehood has an infinity of combinations, but truth
has only one mode of being.
Jean-Jacques
Rousseau
• “The truth was a mirror in the hands of God. It fell, and
broke into pieces. Everybody took a piece of it, and
they looked at it and thought they had the truth.”
Rūmī
• "the class which is the dominant material force in
society is at the same time its
dominant intellectual force".
Karl Marx
• Great talents are the most lovely and often the most
dangerous fruits on the tree of humanity. They hang
upon most slender twigs that are easily snapped off.
Carl Jung
• “All credibility, all good conscience, all evidence of
truth come only from the senses.”
Friedrich Nietzsche
• Read again the lesson of truth, of justice and valour!
• You will be asked to do the work of taking on
responsibility for the world.
Dr Muhammad Iqbal

6. Leader’s Views on Credibility
•The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie, deliberate,
contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive
and unrealistic.
John F. Kennedy
•Long speeches, the shaking of fists, the banging of tables and
strongly worded resolutions do not bring about mass action and
can do a great deal of harm to the organization and the struggle
we serve.
Nelson Mandela
•truth, justice and compassion cannot be dismissed as trite when
these are often the only bulwarks which stand against ruthless
power
Aung San Suu Kyi
•The superficiality, the one-sidedness, the inaccuracy and often,
even, dishonesty that have crept into modern journalism
continuously mislead honest men who want to see nothing but
justice done.
Mahatma Gandhi
•The power of the press is really great, but you must remember
that this power is a great trust and remember that you are
guiding honestly and sincerely the progress and welfare of your
nation.
Muhammad Ali
Jinnah

7. Why Credible Sources of Information:
 Information is the basic element of human socialization. According
to cognitive and social learning theories of mass communication
information gained by different sources of mass media is processed
by the individuals of the society which stimulated social wealth
economic well-being, political wisdom, and ultimately intellectual
asset of the society.
Social Foundations of Thought and Action: A Social Cognitive Theory Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall - Bandura - 1986
http://ehlt.flinders.edu.au/education/DLiT/2006/news/social_learning_theory.htm
Sources of
Information
Credible
Social
Wealth
Economic
Well-being
Prosperous
Society
Political
Wisdom
Un-Credible
Information
Dilemma
Uncertainty
The right information
enables people to make
the right decisions for a
more self-aware process.

8. Intellectual Asset Model:
Social Economic Political
Individual Social Wealth Ownership
Wealth
Activism
Private
Sector
Corporate Social
Responsibility
Capital Wealth Lobbying
Public
Sector
Welfare Growth,
Development
Governance
 The intellectual asset is defined as the knowledge, experience, and
skills that individuals have, which a society can use for its benefit.
 The intellectual asset is used by individuals, private and public sectors
for their social, economic, and political objectives to save social order,
economic prospects, and political securities which affects the behavior
of the individuals and the attitude of the societies.
 Intellectual Asset Model

9. Indicators of Credibility
1. Professional Competence
2. Ethics
3. Accuracy
4. Balance
5. Timeliness
6. Fairness
Media
Credibility
Index
Professional
Competence
Ethics
Accuracy
Balance
Timeliness
Fairness

10. Currencies of Credibility:
 Eye contact: Maintaining appropriate
eye contact during communication is an
important aspect of credibility. It signals
honesty, attentiveness, and confidence.
 Posture: Standing or sitting upright with
a good posture can convey confidence
and authority.
 Facial expressions: A neutral or positive
facial expression can convey sincerity,
openness, and confidence. Smiling can
also convey warmth and
approachability.

11. Currencies of Credibility:
 Appearance: Dressing appropriately for the situation and
presenting a clean and well-groomed appearance can
convey professionalism and attention to detail.

12. Currencies of Credibility:
 Appearance: Dressing appropriately for the situation and
presenting a clean and well-groomed appearance can
convey professionalism and attention to detail.

13. Currencies of Credibility:
 Appearance: Dressing appropriately for the situation and
presenting a clean and well-groomed appearance can
convey professionalism and attention to detail.

14. Currencies of Credibility:
 Appearance: Dressing appropriately for the situation and
presenting a clean and well-groomed appearance can
convey professionalism and attention to detail.

15. Currencies of
Credibility:
Appearance:
Dressing
appropriately for
the situation and
presenting a clean
and well-groomed
appearance can
convey
professionalism
and attention to
detail.
Media Credibility Index

16. Currencies of Credibility:
Appearance: Dressing appropriately
for the situation and presenting a
clean and well-groomed appearance
can convey professionalism and
attention to detail.
Media Credibility Index

17. Currencies of Credibility:
 Appearance: Dressing appropriately for the situation and
presenting a clean and well-groomed appearance can
convey professionalism and attention to detail.

18. Currencies of Credibility:
 Appearance: Dressing appropriately for the situation and
presenting a clean and well-groomed appearance can
convey professionalism and attention to detail.

19. Currencies of Credibility:
 Appearance: Dressing appropriately for the situation and
presenting a clean and well-groomed appearance can
convey professionalism and attention to detail.

20. Currencies of Credibility:
 Appearance: Dressing appropriately for the situation and presenting a clean and well-groomed
appearance can convey professionalism and attention to detail.
Media Credibility Index

21. Currencies of Credibility:
 Appearance: Dressing appropriately for the situation and
presenting a clean and well-groomed appearance can
convey professionalism and attention to detail.

22. Currencies of Credibility:
 Appearance: Dressing appropriately for the situation and
presenting a clean and well-groomed appearance can
convey professionalism and attention to detail.

23. Currencies of Credibility:
 Appearance: Dressing appropriately for the situation and
presenting a clean and well-groomed appearance can
convey professionalism and attention to detail.

24. Currencies of Credibility:
 Appearance: Dressing appropriately for the situation and
presenting a clean and well-groomed appearance can
convey professionalism and attention to detail.

25. Currencies of Credibility:
 Appearance: Dressing appropriately for the situation and
presenting a clean and well-groomed appearance can
convey professionalism and attention to detail.

26. Currencies of Credibility:
 Appearance: Dressing appropriately for the situation and
presenting a clean and well-groomed appearance can
convey professionalism and attention to detail.

27. Currencies of Credibility:
Appearance: Dressing appropriately
for the situation and presenting a
clean and well-groomed appearance
can convey professionalism and
attention to detail.

28. Currencies of Credibility:
Appearance: Dressing
appropriately for the
situation and presenting a
clean and well-groomed
appearance can convey
professionalism and
attention to detail.
Media Credibility Index

29. Currencies of Credibility:
Appearance:
Dressing
appropriately for
the situation and
presenting a
clean and well-
groomed
appearance can
convey
professionalism
and attention to
detail.
How many
brands you can
name that, are
associated with
credibility?

30. Currencies of Credibility:
 Gestures: Appropriate hand gestures and body language
can help to emphasize key points and convey confidence
and enthusiasm.
 Voice tone: Speaking clearly and with a confident tone can
help to convey authority and sincerity.
Overall, visual traits that communicate confidence, sincerity,
and professionalism can contribute to the perception of
credibility.

32. Currencies of Credibility:
https://youtu.be/eXR7p56acDM

33. Questions
• How would you create credibility for a
character?
• What are the basic traits of credibility?
• Why credibility is important?
• Can you create false or negative credibility,
examples?
Media Credibility Index

34. THANK YOU

35. Media Credibility Index
Backup Slides

36. Professional Competence:
 The quality of being competent is adequacy
possession of required skill, knowledge,
qualification, or capacity.
 A cluster of related abilities, commitments,
knowledge, and skills that enable a person (or an
organization) to act effectively in a job or situation.
 The capacity of a person to understand a situation
and to act reasonably is called as professional
competency.

37. Ethics:
 Journalistic ethics is the subdivision of applied
ethics dealing with principles and standards of
media, including broadcast media, film, theatre,
the arts, print media and the internet.
 The field covers many varied and highly
controversial topics, ranging from war journalism
to advertising. A major area of conflict is
between the public’s “rights to know”, or
freedom of the press and individual’s right of
privacy.

38. Accuracy:
 The state of being accurate, freedom from
mistakes, this exemption arising from carefulness,
exact conformity to truth, or to a rule or model,
precision, exactness, nicety, correctness, as the
value of testimony depends on its accuracy.
Accuracy is categories according to clauses of
ethical codes.

39. Balance:
 There are two sides to every story. Knowing whether or
not both sides deserve equal merit in journalism is a
dilemma that journalists face in some situations. For
the public, the media has an obligation to provide an
evenhanded approach to reporting.
 It is the journalistic duty to be cognizant of this function
and to present all sides of a story. In doing so, a
sufficient amount background on the subject must be
given for the reader to have the context in which to
draw his or her own conclusions about the story.

40. Timeliness:
 Timeliness refers to harder hitting stories and
important developments in a story that would lose
their newsworthiness if not reported as soon as
possible. If the event or topic is old then it does
not make news - people want to know what is
happening now.

41. Fairness:
 Fairness means exploring and putting all sides of
a story as accurately as possible. Journalists
should never be used to exaggerate the
importance of a story. Fairness means the
journalist is being fair to the facts and to a
citizen's understanding of them.
 Fairness means that reporters covering a story
must remember there are usually two sides –
and often more – to most issues, and that those
differing viewpoints should be given roughly
equal space in any news story.