People increasingly access news through ‘new’, algorithmic intermediaries such as search engines or aggregators rather than the ‘old’ (i. e., traditional), journalistic intermediaries. As algorithmic intermediaries do not adhere to journalistic standards, their trustworthiness comes into question. With this study, we (1) summarize the differences between journalistic and algorithmic intermediaries as found in previous literature; (2) conduct a cross-media comparison of information credibility and intermediary trustworthiness; and (3) examine how key predictors (such as modality, reputation, source attribution, and prior experience) affect the trustworthiness and credibility assessments. Results from a quasi-experimental online survey (n = 485) confirm that recipients assess journalistic intermediaries more positively than algorithmic intermediaries and audio more positively than text intermediaries. Furthermore, we found reputation and information credibility to be the most important predictors of intermediary trustworthiness, while general media trust is the most important predictor of information credibility. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

中文翻译：

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家有一老如有一宝？比较“新”和“旧”信息中介的可信度和信誉

人们越来越多地通过搜索引擎或聚合器等“新”算法中介获取新闻，而不是“旧”（即传统）新闻中介。由于算法中介机构不遵守新闻标准，因此它们的可信度受到质疑。通过这项研究，我们（1）总结了先前文献中新闻中介和算法中介之间的差异；（二）进行信息可信度和中介可信度的跨媒体比对；(3) 检查关键预测因素（例如模式、声誉、来源归因和先前经验）如何影响可信度和可信度评估。一项准实验性在线调查（n = 485）的结果证实，接收者对新闻中介的评价比对算法中介的评价更积极，对音频中介的评价比对文本中介的评价更积极。此外，我们发现声誉和信息可信度是中介可信度最重要的预测因素，而一般媒体信任是信息可信度最重要的预测因素。讨论了未来研究的意义和方向。