Media is the principal source of public information, and people's trust in news has been a critical mechanism in social cohesion. In recent years, the vast growth of new media (e.g., internet news portals) has brought huge change to the way information is conveyed, cannibalizing much of the space of traditional media (e.g., traditional newspapers). This has led to renewed attention on media credibility. The study aims to explore the impact of media channel on trust in news and examine the role of news type. Twenty-six participants were asked to make trust–distrust decisions after reading a variety of news headlines from different media channels while undergoing electroencephalography (EEG) monitoring. The electrophysiological results showed that, for hard news (e.g., important news related to public life), the new media condition elicited smaller N100 and larger P200 amplitudes than the traditional media condition. However, for soft news (e.g., entertainment, and non-related to vital interest), there was no significant difference. The study suggests that the fitness of media channel and news type may influence the evaluation of news, impacting participants' affective arousal and attention allocation in the early stage and influencing trust in news. These results provide neurocognitive evidence of individuals' trust toward hard and soft news consumed via different media channels, yielding new insights into trust in media and contributing to media trust theory.

媒体是公共信息的主要来源，人们对新闻的信任一直是社会凝聚力的关键机制。近年来，新媒体（例如，互联网新闻门户网站）的迅猛发展为信息的传递方式带来了巨大的变化，蚕食了传统媒体（例如，传统报纸）的大部分空间。这引起了人们对媒体公信力的重新关注。该研究旨在探讨媒体渠道对新闻信任的影响，并研究新闻类型的作用。在接受脑电图（EEG）监控的同时，从不同媒体渠道阅读了各种新闻头条后，要求26位参与者做出信任与不信任的决定。电生理结果表明，对于硬新闻（例如，与公共生活有关的重要新闻），与传统媒体条件相比，新媒体条件引起的N100振幅和P200振幅更大。但是，对于软新闻（例如娱乐，与切身利益无关），没有显着差异。研究表明，媒体渠道和新闻类型的适合性可能会影响新闻的评价，并在早期影响参与者的情感唤醒和注意力分配，并影响对新闻的信任。这些结果提供了个人对通过不同媒体渠道消费的硬新闻和软新闻的信任的神经认知证据，从而产生了对媒体信任的新见解，并为媒体信任理论做出了贡献。没有显着差异。研究表明，媒体渠道和新闻类型的适合性可能会影响新闻的评价，并在早期影响参与者的情感唤醒和注意力分配，并影响对新闻的信任。这些结果提供了个人对通过不同媒体渠道消费的硬新闻和软新闻的信任的神经认知证据，从而产生了对媒体信任的新见解，并为媒体信任理论做出了贡献。没有显着差异。研究表明，媒体渠道和新闻类型的适合性可能会影响新闻的评价，并在早期影响参与者的情感唤醒和注意力分配，并影响对新闻的信任。这些结果提供了个人对通过不同媒体渠道消费的硬新闻和软新闻的信任的神经认知证据，从而产生了对媒体信任的新见解，并为媒体信任理论做出了贡献。