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.

摘要

这项研究调查了五个国家（黎巴嫩，卡塔尔，沙特阿拉伯，突尼斯和阿联酋）的互联网用户对互联网假冒政治新闻曝光（FNE）感知的预测指标，即媒体可信度等级（N = 4,616）。媒体可信度和媒体使用变量的回归模型解释了三个国家（14％至26％）的FNE差异很大。然而，只有受访者对新闻媒体的信誉等级会否定FNE的假设得到了部分支持，这在五个国家中的两个国家中观察到。FNE最强的正相关因素是人们认为应该阻止在线虚假新闻。讨论了对公众对假新闻的认知研究以及对媒体信誉研究的意义。