Media Credibility Research Articles

Concepts, causes and consequences of trust in news media – a literature review and framework

ABSTRACT Research on trust in media is on the rise. However, communication scholars have addressed related concepts (e.g. media credibility) for decades, and these concepts have often been used interchangeably with that of trust. This practice has resulted in a confusing field of research, with studies using different labels and drawing on various theoretical backgrounds. This article aims to improve conceptual clarity. On the basis of a literature review, we first propose a broad conceptualization of trust in news media and disentangle it from related concepts. Second, we develop a framework that identifies individual- and societal-level causes and consequences of trust in various media objects. Third, we review the current state of research on social, political, and media-related correlates of trust.

Trust in Public Relations in the Age of Mistrusted Media: A European Perspective

One of the core problems of misinformation and post-trust societies is, indeed, trust in communications. The undermining of the credibility of media as the backbone of democratic societies is becoming a serious problem that affects democracy, business and all kinds of public institutions and organizations in society(ies). This paper explores perceptions of trust in key stakeholders involved in communication on behalf of organizations. Findings are considered at the professional (macro), departmental (meso) and individual (micro) level as well as considering the trusted role of non-specialist communicators for organizations including internal and external spokespeople. Data were collected from an online survey of 2883 respondents from 46 countries across Europe. Key findings were at the macro level that: antagonism between management communication professionals and journalists remains. The lowest trust in the profession is felt to be by the general public. At the meso level, top executives are perceived to trust the department the most followed by journalists in second place. External experts such as professors and consultants are perceived to be the most trusted by the general public. Finally, at the micro level individuals are more trusted than organizations or departments and the communication profession more widely.

Striking the balance between professionalism and commercialism: A cross-case study on news start-ups in China

The conflict between professionalism and commercialism has been a challenge for journalistic practice for decades. Early research on news start-ups in the West reported few possibilities to resolve this conflict. This article draws on interviews and participatory observation of four Chinese news start-ups to examine their efforts to strike the balance. Results indicate that Chinese news start-ups are hybrids of business corporations and social instruments. In this dual operational model, advertorial service is both the rational choice to ensure profits and the root of the conflict between professionalism and commercialism. News start-ups implement business innovations and editorial modifications to cope with the situation. The former expands sources of income, which relieves the economic pressure on the editorial room, while the latter enhances media credibility, which translates to profits. Hence, the Chinese model of entrepreneurial journalism suggests possible directions for rebalancing professionalism and commercialism.

Infodemic and Fake News in Spain during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Internet, new technologies and social networks have changed the consumption and dissemination of information. The world is witnessing the proliferation of so-called false news, especially since the beginning of 2020, when COVID-19 became the main issue on the global agenda. Alleged government actions, remedies, advice, etc., are the cause of a multitude of messages that are often false. Through surveys (1115 responses were obtained) and a review of the literature, we explore how the proliferation of COVID-19’s false news affects and impacts public opinion in Spain. We also examine how citizens are being informed about the pandemic, identify the main channels of communication used and discover the impact of misinformation. The main conclusions are that, in Spain, citizens are interested in information related to the coronavirus, but there is a lack of media credibility and reliability; the social networks and instant messaging are considered the channels that transmit the greatest amount of false news.

The virus of fear and anxiety: China, COVID-19, and the Australian media

This article analyses Australian media’s coverage of China’s efforts to contain COVID-19. The article is a critical discourse analysis of the major news stories, documentaries, opinions, and analyses published in the entire array of Australian media, including both television and radio programs from the taxpayer-funded public broadcaster the ABC, commercial media outlets such as Murdoch’s The Australian newspaper and Nine Entertainment’s The Sydney Morning Herald, and several tabloid papers. By identifying the key themes, perspectives, and angles used in these reports and narratives, this article finds that the more credible media outlets have mostly framed China’s efforts in political and ideological terms, rather than as an issue of public health. In comparison, the tabloid media—including commercial television, shock jock radio, and newspapers—have resorted to conspiratorial, racist, and Sino-phobic positions. In both instances, the coverage of China’s experience is a continuation and embodiment of the “China threat” and “Chinese influence” discourses that have now dominated the Australian media for a number of years.

Role conceptions, performance, and the impact of credibility: Professionals’ and citizens’ views on citizen visual contributors

Through two separate surveys targeting visual professionals (VP) and citizen visual contributors (CVC), we assess their views on citizen journalists’ roles along with their views on the likelihood to act on those views (i.e., role performance intention) in order to identify associations between perception and performance. The role that perceived media credibility plays in the assessment of role conceptions and potential role performance was also examined. Findings indicate that CVC rate their roles as significantly more important than the ratings of VP on citizens’ roles. Correlation analysis points to associations between the roles but misalignment in the relationship between conceptions and performance among CVC but alignment among VP. When looking at the impact of media credibility on role conceptions and performance, it is clear that perceived media credibility plays a significant role among the views of professionals. However, media credibility is not much of a factor in the assessments by CVC. Implications are discussed.

OBJECTIVITY IN MEDIA: A PERSPECTIVE OF SOURCE CREDIBILITY IN SOCIETY

People's desire to learn about what's going on in their communities via social media has sparked a slew of comparison studies on the news credibility of newspaper, social media and television in general. The reliability of news sources such as social media, television, and newspapers was compared in this study. The study included both focus group discussions and surveys as part of its research approach. The researcher's theoretical basis for the study was framing theory. The study's findings indicate that respondents' level of education and familiarity with the internet have an effect on the news they choose and believe. Similarly, the majority of individuals rely on a secondary source of information after being exposed to their preferred source of information in order to verify the veracity of a news article. In addition, the study found that people who thought TV and newspaper news was more credible than social media did so because well-trained people make the news in newspapers and on TV, and there are processes in place to make sure the news is accurate and objective. Significant theoretical and practical ramifications flow from how people evaluate news organizations in terms of their reliability and credibility.

COVID-19, a tale of two pandemics: novel coronavirus and fake news messaging.

SummaryThe emergence of COVID-19, caused by novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, became a pandemic in just 10 weeks. Without effective medications or vaccines available, authorities turned toward mitigation measures such as use of face masks, school’s closings, shelter-in-place, telework and social distancing. People found refuge on the internet and social media apps; however, there was a proliferation of instant messaging containing hoaxed, deliberate misleading information: fake news messaging (FNM). The aim of this study was to assess FNM through content analysis and to discriminate them in a proposed taxonomy structure. A sample of convenience of messages, memes, tweets or cartoons in several languages was selected from the most popular social media outlets, i.e. Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter etc. More than 300 FNM were identified. Descriptive statistics were used for highlighting potential relationships between variables. Content analysis determined that FNM could be divided into Health- and non-health-related types. There are several sub-types considering, but not limited to, religious beliefs, politics, economy, nutrition, behaviors, prevention of the infection, the origin of the disease and conspiracy theories. The parallel FNM pandemic affected the response from an already debilitated public health system through the confusion created in the community and the erosion in the credibility of genuine media. Public health practitioners had to face people’s unpredictable behaviors, panic, tensions with the communities and, in some cases, a hostile climate toward frontline workers. Public health practitioners must adjust ongoing and future health promotion and education interventions including plans to neutralize fake news messages.

Antecedents of panic buying behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic

The new Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic triggers panic buying behavior among consumers in several countries. Previous research on panic buying behavior is less likely to look at the phenomenon from the perspective of consumers (demand-side). Therefore, this study aims to examine the influence of media credibility and social contagion on panic buying behavior and the mediating effect of consumer anxiety in the relationship between media credibility, social contagion and panic buying behavior. Data was collected from young and adult consumers in Greater Jakarta, Indonesia using convenience sampling techniques. Three hundred and fifty responses were collected through an online survey. The hypotheses were tested using structural equation models that could simultaneously analyze the effects of variables in the complex model. The results indicate that media credibility does not have a significant effect on consumer anxiety and panic buying. On the other hand, social contagion has a direct and indirect influence on consumer anxiety. Likewise, consumer anxiety mediates the relationship between social contagion and panic buying behavior. The findings from this research can be used by manufacturers and retailers to maintain goods availability during the pandemic, and the government as a basis for economic decision making. This research also contributes to development of the academic literature related to consumer behavior during a pandemic.

Social Media Influencer Credibility and Social Influence on Intention to Use Fintech in Indonesia

Communication and information technology innovations have been applied to various fields of industry and utilized as an opportunity in financial business. One of these id Financial Technology (FinTech). FinTech companies mostly implement collaboration with social media influencers in their promotional and marketing strategies. This research aims to conduct investigate the impact of social media influencer’s credibility and social influence on the intention to use FinTech Service technology users. The quantitative research method used by distributing questionnaires online to 400 respondents and processed using Path Analysis. The result of this research indicate that social influence has significant impact compared to the source credibility of social media influencers on users’ intention to use of FinTech Service technology. Based on the results, concluded that the users of FinTech Service in Indonesia were more influenced by the suggestions and input from family and peers in choosing the type of FinTech Service application they used.

The Proliferation of Fake News in Network Communication and The Reconstruction of Media Credibility

The network provides new communication technologies and modes for the dissemination of news, and enriches the diversity of news dissemination. In network communication, the information market environment is highly competitive, the profit drive the truth change, and due to the lack of news control consciousness in network communication, it is possible to produce fake news in every link of news production. By analyzing the fake news reports of Yuan Longping's death, this paper explores the typical characteristics of fake news in network communication and the harm caused, and how to reconstruct the credibility of the media by dealing with the phenomenon of the proliferation of fake news in network communication.

Impact of social media influencers on customer engagement and brand perception

The availability and widespread use of social media has made it the preferred medium for companies wanting to spread product information, create public opinion and gain followers. To this end, social media influencers act as a dynamic third-party endorser to spread a brand's message to vast audience across the world. Consumers who exhibit a positive attitude towards the social media credibility are attracted through social media advertisements. The present study examines the perceptions of agencies for opting social media influencers and their role in customer engagement and brand awareness. For this purpose, the study also assesses different methods adopted by these influencers for influencing customers using a systematic review. The findings of the study indicate customer's perception and attitude are much influenced via these influencers since they are more capable of communicating to a niche segment. As compared to traditional advertising strategies, this new technological means of influencers pave way to new competitive strength to the agencies in engaging customers and creating brand awareness.

References to nationality in crime reporting: Effects on perceived news credibility and the moderating role of xenophobia

In many Western countries, right-wing populists have accused mainstream media of disguising criminals’ foreign origins for the sake of political correctness. To avert a loss in credibility among certain audience segments, an increasing number of news media have therefore made it their policy to always report the nationality of perpetrators. Yet, whether references to nationality or the absence thereof affect credibility perceptions among audiences has not been empirically established. A between-subjects experimental study (N = 261) was conducted in Germany to fill this gap. The findings show that the effect of references to nationality on credibility perceptions depends substantially on news consumers’ pre-existing social attitudes. Among xenophobic participants, references to perpetrators as foreign citizens enhanced perceptions of media credibility; the opposite tended to be true for participants with low xenophobia. Practical implications for news practitioners and avenues for future research are discussed.

Disinformation under a networked authoritarian state: Saudi trolls’ credibility attacks against Jamal Khashoggi

AbstractThis paper deals with a case study that provides unique and original insight into social media credibility attacks against the Saudi journalist and activist, Jamal Khashoggi. To get the data, I searched all the state-run tweets sent by Arab trolls (78,274,588 in total), and I used Cedar, Canada’s supercomputer, to extract all the videos and images associated with references to Khashoggi. In addition, I searched Twitter’s full data archive to cross-examine some of the hashtag campaigns that were launched the day Khashoggi disappeared and afterwards. Finally, I used CrowdTangle to understand whether some of these hashtags were also used on Facebook and Instagram. I present here evidence that just a few hours after Khashoggi’s disappearance in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Saudi trolls started a coordinated disinformation campaign against him to frame him as a terrorist, foreign agent for Qatar and Turkey, liar.... etc. The trolls also emphasized that the whole story of his disappearance and killing is a fabrication or a staged play orchestrated by Turkey and Qatar. The campaign also targeted his fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, alleging she was a spy, while later they cast doubt about her claims. Some of these campaigns were launched a few months after Khashoggi’s death. Theoretically, I argue that state-run disinformation campaigns need to incorporate the dimension of intended effect. In this case study, the goal is to tarnish the reputation and credibility of Khashoggi, even after he died, in an attempt to discredit his claims and political cause, influence different audiences especially the Saudi public, and potentially reduce sympathy towards him.

Should I Trust Social Media? How Media Credibility and Language Affect False Memory

This study examined the influence of credibility and .language in Internet-based media on false memory. A randomized factorial 2 (media credibility) × 2 (language) experimental design was conducted with 106 college students. The two groups of media credibility consisted of social media (LINE) and non-social media (detik.com), while media language consisted of formal and informal language. A confidence test was used to measure false memory. A two-factor ANOVA showed that media credibility significantly affects false memory. Participants in the detik.com group were more confident in the information received and had greater false memory than the LINE group. However, no significant effect of language was found, and no significant interaction effect between media credibility and language on false memory was found. This study suggests that individuals should be cautious when reading information on non-social media platforms, as individuals tend to place more confidence on the source, leading to greater false memory.

The role of power-addiction and maladaptive denial in the US federal COVID-19 response

PurposeGiven the substantial resources of the United States, the failure of the American federal response to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been both tragic and avoidable. The authors frame this response as an artifact of power-addiction among administration officials and examine the US federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic through the lens of maladaptive denial by government officials, including President Trump.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use qualitative research methods for this study by analyzing key events, public statements by administration officials from multiple credible media reports and US federal government websites. The authors analyzed these data using Weidner and Purohit's (2009) model describing maladaptive denial in organizations and power-addiction among leaders.FindingsThe authors' analysis identifies maladaptive denial – and the concomitant power-addiction – as significantly contributing to the Trump administration's failed response to COVID-19. Maladaptive denial and power-addiction characterized Trump as a candidate and for the three years of his presidency preceding the COVID-19 crisis. Whatever normative “guardrails” or checks and balances existed in the American system to restrict the administration's behavior before the crisis were ill-equipped to significantly prevent or alter the failed federal response to the pandemic.Originality/valueThe article applies the model of maladaptive denial in organizations (Weidner and Purohit, 2009) to the public sector, and explores the lengths to which power-addicted leaders and regimes can violate the public's trust in institutions in a crisis, even in the US, a liberal democracy characterized by freedom of political expression. While organizations and change initiatives may fail for a variety of reasons, this case revealed the extent to which maladaptive denial can permeate a government – or any organization – and its response to a crisis.

Emotional news affects social judgments independent of perceived media credibility.

How does the credibility we attribute to media sources influence our opinions and judgments derived from news? Participants read headlines about the social behavior of depicted unfamiliar persons from websites of trusted or distrusted well-known German news media. As a consequence, persons paired with negative or positive headlines were judged more negative or positive than persons associated with neutral information independent of source credibility. Likewise, electrophysiological signatures of slow and controlled evaluative brain activity revealed a dominant influence of emotional headline contents regardless of credibility. Modulations of earlier brain responses associated with arousal and reflexive emotional processing show an effect of negative news and suggest that distrusted sources may even enhance the impact of negative headlines. These findings demonstrate that though we may have distinct perceptions about the credibility of media sources, information processing and social judgments rely on the emotional content of headlines, even when they stem from sources we distrust.

Networked Identities: Exploring the Role of Social Networking to Optimize Event Marketing by Higher Education Institutions in the Middle East

This article examines the growing use and influence of two popular social networking sites—Facebook and LinkedIn—in the Middle East. Under the premise of Social Identity theory, we focus on the impact of posting information about academic-related events on social networking sites. We recruited 180 participants in a laboratory-based experiment using a 2 (medium type) × 2 (message valance) × 2 (group affiliation) factorial design to assess the moderating role of medium credibility, electronic word-of-mouth valence (eWOM) and perceived in-group affiliation of the respondents. The results indicate that, under the same moderating conditions, popular and widely used social sites are more capable of generating a positive response from students than sites that are not popular or widely used. In addition, the theoretical and practical implications of the findings are addressed.

Enhancing the role of facilities management in the fight against the COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic in developing countries’ public hospitals

Purpose This paper aims to present a review of the current COVID-19 pandemic with particular emphasis on developing countries in Africa. It aims to demonstrate how facilities management (FM) services delivery in public hospitals can be improved for the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach This paper embraces a review of current literature on COVID-19 and FM together with credible media updates. The paper critically synthesizes knowledge on the pandemic to position a technical view on how FM can be improved in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings The COVID-19 pandemic presents unprecedented challenges and realities to the health-care system of most African countries. Despite the significant efforts being made by various governments, there appears to be a lack of a coherent and strategic FM plan to fight the pandemic. To create the necessary antivirus built environment, actionable and timely FM interventions are needed. Research limitations/implications The report herein is case guarded, based on the prevailing data and information as at the time of writing the paper. Nevertheless, the recommendations from the paper are useful for a worse future trajectory of the pandemic. Practical implications Knowledge of the proposed interventions will inform and assist health-care facilities managers in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Originality/value The paper presents the first step towards encapsulating knowledge on FM and the COVID-19 pandemic. It sets forth recommendations that are useful for most developing countries’ public hospitals’ FM practices in the fight against this global pandemic. The authors intend to follow-up with future empirical studies for more objective assessments of FM and the COVID-19 pandemic.

News Media Credibility Ratings and Perceptions of Online Fake News Exposure in Five Countries

ABSTRACT This study examined media credibility ratings as predictors of perceptions of online fake political news exposure (FNE) among internet users in five Arab countries: Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and UAE (N = 4,616). Regression models of media credibility and media use variables explained sizeable amounts of variance in FNE in three countries (14% to 26%). The hypothesis that respondents’ credibility ratings of news media would negatively predict FNE, however, was only partially supported—a relationship observed in two of the five countries. The strongest positive correlate of FNE was the belief that fake news online should be blocked. Implications for research on public perceptions of fake news and for research on media credibility are discussed.