497,797 research outputs found

    Do You Trust Me(dia)?: How Students Perceive and Identify Fake News

    Get PDF
    Social media has become an increasingly popular source of news among young adults. However, with the rise of “fake news,” credibility comes into question and young adults are left on their own to determine which news is real and which is false. Two focus groups were employed in this study to gain a greater understanding of how college students aged 18-24 determine what news to trust on social media and the factors that impacted those decisions. Young adults in that age group trust news found on social media based on a variety of factors including the person that is sharing the news, the particular social media site it comes from, and the ability to verify the news with other alternative sources

    “Seeing but not believing”: Undergraduate students’ media uses and news trust

    Get PDF
    Young people often encounter the news on social media while engaging in social and entertainment practices. Despite relying on social media for news, youth see online information with suspicion and as less trustworthy than traditional news media. While many factors contribute to the widespread decline in news trust, the relationship between youth news media uses and their trust in the news remains unclear. This article seeks to understand how Portuguese undergraduate students describe their news trust, and how these perceptions relate to their media uses. We draw on a mixed-methods study using a survey (N = 562) and focus groups (N = 45) with students from diverse disciplines, between 2016 and 2017. The findings reveal a paradoxical relationship between students’ media uses and news trust. Students mistrust online news but stay informed through social media. This is explained by emotional needs as well as perceptions of the news combining optimistic and critical stances. This study suggests further research on what news trust means for young people on social media.This article is the result of a PhD fellowship (SFRH/BD/94791/2013), funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology, National Strategic Reference Framework, and the Operational Human Potential Program

    Does Trust Really Matter? A Quantitative Study of College Students\u27 Trust and Use of News Media

    Get PDF
    Media polls reveal that trust in news media has been on the decline in recent years and so is the consumption of news. This quantitative study reveals no significant correlation between overall trust and use of news media. It finds that college students have more trust in traditional news sources and view TV as their most important news source. Yet they are more likely to seek out a future news event from online news sources, despite having less trust in them. Results indicate that social media sources, such as Facebook and Twitter, are used as frequent sources for news and the correlations between trust and use of social media sources for news are generally stronger than those of other news sources. This study suggests that news outlet may seek to gain more users of this demographic not by (re-)gaining their trust but by diversifying their news content so that it is more easily accessible and consumable by college students

    The factors behind the fake news label : why some people distrust news media

    Get PDF
    News organizations across the country have struggled with the fake news labelling effect, meaning news one labels “fake” because one dislikes or disagrees with it, rather than the spread of misinformation itself, for a number of years, most prominently since the 2016 presidential election. The trend highlights a growing problem for journalists: the establishment of trust between news organizations and news consumers. The concern for many journalists is that left unchecked, a vicious cycle sets up that could threaten democracy itself: Consumers distrust information from media sources, then engage more with less trustworthy content that corroborates their own biases and serves them, algorithmically, more information that will further entrench those views. This ultimately lessens the ability of journalists to serve as a check and balance on government power, as in Edmund Burke's classic Fourth Estate theory. The fake news labelling effect poses a challenge for researchers. People who do not trust news organizations at all may be unwilling to engage in research that helps those organizations or even the field of journalism itself. However, news organizations have an opportunity to build trust with their audiences, in spite of the algorithmic nature of social media news feeds, at least when it comes to those whose distrust of news media is not complete. To test the hypothesis that how news organizations interact with people on social media may influence the extent to which news consumers trust them, the researcher sought out users who commented on the social media accounts of a mid-sized market news/talk radio station and conducted a series of in-depth interviews exploring their social media habits, news consumption habits, and personal beliefs. Analyzed qualitatively, the results showed transparency in reporting, ownership and other aspects of news reporting matters much more than social media engagement when it comes to improving trust between news consumers and the media outlets that generate news. The results also showed that the people who comment on a local news organization's social media accounts may not necessarily live in the geographic area covered by that organization

    Comparison of Public Relations and News Professionals’ Usage of Social Media in Communication Relationships

    Get PDF
    Professionals in the areas of public relations and news adopt social media extensively in their respective disciplines. Thus the focus of this study is to ascertain how social media was used in professional communication. A questionnaire sent to both journalists and public relations practitioners was distributed via email. The questions focused on professional usage (minutes and hours), identifying both professional and/or social usage. The respondents evaluated Facebook, email, texting, Twitter, FourSquare, LinkedIn, blogs and other internet sites for the following qualities: trust, value, reliability, density of information, and usefulness of information. There was special attention given to social media preference in sending versus receiving communication. The final analysis stressed the respondent\u27s identification of the strengths of social media for professional reasons. This questionnaire (Likert Scale) stressed postmodern perspectives through the use of ethical dimensions as integrated by the views of respondents. For the news media, regardless of age, e-mail was preferred and these reporters did not integrate Facebook into communication. The public relations practitioners’ preferences were split more evenly by age with those under 45 preferring social media

    Syracuse University Trust Barometer: A Study of SU Students’ Media Consumption Habits and Trust in News

    Get PDF
    In order to communicate effectively with a target audience, public relations professionals must understand the news media their intended public consumes and trusts. In recent years, media polls and surveys have shown the trust Americans place in the news media is declining. The purpose of this study is to examine the news media habits of Syracuse University students and the trust students place in news information. This study is based off responses from 254 Syracuse University students who agreed to participate in a voluntary response survey. The seventeen question survey was designed to examine students’ daily news consumption patterns and the levels of trust they placed in a variety of media institutions and spokespeople. The aim of this study is to better understand: which media sources and outlooks SU students viewed, what individuals and spokespeople SU students considered to be the most reliable, how trustworthy SU students considered various news channels and media sources and what role social media played in SU student’s news consumption. Findings indicate that Syracuse University students spend far less time consuming news information each day than do older generations. Results also show that traditional news sources including national newspapers, television broadcast news, and television cable news are the most consumed and trusted among students. Students also tend to place a great deal of trust in academic researchers and traditional company figureheads such as Chief Executive Officers and Chief Financial Officers. This study also examines the ways in which the internet and social media have influenced students’ news consumption. Although most students agree social media has had a positive effect on their ability to consume and share news, most students are still hesitant to trust these mediums as a credible source of news information. Students also indicated a low level of trust in other news mediums that exist purely online, such as blogs. The results expressed in this study can greatly aid public relations practitioners targeting Syracuse University students. By forming a more comprehensive understanding of a public’s news habits and placement of trust, PR practitioners can more effectively pitch stories and plan media campaigns. In the age of the internet, the news landscape is in constant flux and the success of the profession of public relations depends on the ability of practitioners to understand how their intended public is responding to these changes

    Media Bias through Facial Expressions on Local Las Vegas Television News

    Full text link
    Trust in news media has been considered an important base for social order and cohesion in society and is a crucial variable for evaluating news media. Media credibility has been questioned by the audience for some time and the audience’s trust in the media has been slowly diminishing over the years. When a news broadcaster communicates a story on local television news, it is possible for his own opinions and beliefs to leak through nonverbal communication, specifically facial expressions. This presentation explores the four main local Las Vegas television news stations’ anchors and reporters to visually analyze whether facial characteristics reveal media bias while reporting the news

    Distrust Profiles: Identifying the Factors That Shape Journalism's Credibility Crisis

    Get PDF
    Trust in news is declining globally and has been for some time a phenomenon that has been amplified in the context of a global pandemic, the rise in anti-media populism, and social and political unrest. Overall, public trust in journalism remains low (44% globally), according to the Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2021. Building on a growing body of research on predictors of (dis)trust among news audiences, this study examines survey data from the Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2021 to explore distrust profiles - comparative profiles of users based on their relative distrust in news in general, news they consume, and news accessed through digital intermediaries like social and search - across distinct news environments: India, South Korea, and the US. We conclude that, across all three countries, there are large segments who either trust everything or distrust everything, suggesting a trust polarization phenomenon. Moreover, the results identify segments of swing trusters, users who trust some news and distrust other types but do not indicate a blanket tendency to trust or distrust everything. Normative expectations about the institution of journalism (i.e., folk theories) seem to be the most powerful factors in explaining the relative likelihood of membership in all profiles, where expectations regarding impartiality, concern about fake news, and fair coverage were important indicators of (dis)trust, with varying degrees depending on the media, political, and technological contexts in which they are situated. These findings suggest that to regain trust, journalists should consider how they can change people's folk theories when it comes to news by comprehensively taking into account the unique trajectory of a given country's media system

    Do You Trust Scientists About the Environment?

    Get PDF
    In this brief, author Lawrence Hamilton examines the results of a Granite State Poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center in late January–early February 2014. The poll asked about public trust in scientists, along with other questions on science, political, and social issues that help to place the science-trust results in perspective. Almost two-thirds of New Hampshire residents surveyed say that they trust scientists to provide accurate information about environmental issues. Only 12 percent do not trust scientists to provide this information. Wide disparities occur along party lines, however, regarding this and other questions about science. The 53 percent gap between Democrats and Republicans on climate change is one of the largest for any issue. Trust in scientists shows a somewhat narrower Democrat–Republican gap (37 percent), which is larger than those for historically divisive social issues such as abortion or the death penalty. Answers to these survey questions also relate to respondents’ news media sources, even after statistical adjustments for political party, age, gender and education. People who often listen to New Hampshire Public Radio are more likely to say they trust scientists, and respond differently from other New Hampshire residents on several other science-related questions. People who often watch local television news or read newspapers, on the other hand, respond differently on questions about the death penalty or gun control
    • …
    corecore