ABSTRACT

Media trust is at near-record lows, arguably lowering news consumption, threatening the viability of journalism, and increasing citizen polarization. In examining the causes of low media trust, researchers often look at intrinsic audience factors rather than audience perceptions of journalism—in particular, documenting media trust's strong inverse correlation with conservatism, but seldom investigating trust's relationship with perceptions of journalistic quality. The quality connection is worth investigating because studies have found that journalistic errors are common, and such inaccuracies are also widely perceived. This study asked which has a stronger impact on media trust, audience ideologies or perceived journalistic errors. Using a survey of 1026 U.S. adults, the study found an inverse relationship between error perceptions and trust levels. The most frequently perceived errors were sensationalized or understated stories and stories missing essential information. Three types of errors and both social and economic conservatism were found to have statistically significant, negative relationships with trust, while a fourth error type—misspellings—had a positive relationship. The two ideological factors had a slightly stronger media trust impact than the collective error types. Nonetheless, perception of errors accounted for significant variation in trust levels. These results bolster the imperative for rigorous reporting and editing.

摘要

媒体信任度接近历史低点，可以说降低了新闻消费，威胁到新闻业的生存能力，并加剧了公民两极分化。在检查媒体信任度低的原因时，研究人员通常关注内在的受众因素，而不是受众对新闻的看法——特别是，记录媒体信任与保守主义之间的强负相关，但很少研究信任与新闻质量感知的关系。质量联系值得调查，因为研究发现新闻错误很常见，而且这种错误也被广泛认为。本研究询问哪一个对媒体信任、受众意识形态或感知的新闻错误影响更大。通过对 1026 名美国成年人的调查，该研究发现错误感知与信任水平之间存在反比关系。最常被察觉的错误是耸人听闻或低调的故事以及缺少重要信息的故事。三种类型的错误以及社会和经济保守主义被发现与信任具有统计学上显着的负相关关系，而第四种错误类型——拼写错误——具有正相关关系。与集体错误类型相比，这两种意识形态因素对媒体信任的影响略强。尽管如此，对错误的感知导致了信任水平的显着变化。这些结果支持了严格报告和编辑的必要性。三种类型的错误以及社会和经济保守主义被发现与信任具有统计学上显着的负相关关系，而第四种错误类型——拼写错误——具有正相关关系。与集体错误类型相比，这两种意识形态因素对媒体信任的影响略强。尽管如此，对错误的感知导致了信任水平的显着变化。这些结果支持了严格报告和编辑的必要性。三种类型的错误以及社会和经济保守主义被发现与信任具有统计学上显着的负相关关系，而第四种错误类型——拼写错误——具有正相关关系。与集体错误类型相比，这两种意识形态因素对媒体信任的影响略强。尽管如此，对错误的感知导致了信任水平的显着变化。这些结果支持了严格报告和编辑的必要性。