Abstract
ABSTRACT News is ever more accessible and consumed via social media, and on those platforms, its distribution is influenced by intermediaries. Because people are exposed to news via online influencers, it is important to know if and how they can impact audience attitudes. This study addresses the effects of politicians’ news sharing on social media users’ attitudes toward the news. Based on a survey experiment with Belgian citizens (N = 1,278), findings indicate that respondents rate news as less credible when it is shared by a politician from a party they would not vote for. This effect is consistent across different types of news outlets. There is no consistent interaction effect with respondents’ levels of media trust. Exploratory analyses highlight that respondents are more likely to select news that is shared by politicians from their preferred party. Thus, politicians’ news sharing not only affects attitudes toward the news but also news consumption.
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