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Licensed Unlicensed Requires Authentication Published online by De Gruyter Mouton February 20, 2024

Oldies but goldies? Comparing the trustworthiness and credibility of ‘new’ and ‘old’ information intermediaries

  • Lisa Weidmüller ORCID logo EMAIL logo and Sven Engesser ORCID logo
From the journal Communications

Abstract

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.


Note

Data and additional online materials are openly available at the project’s Open Science Framework page (https://osf.io/57uvt/). This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. It has not been published before and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. We have no conflicts of interest to disclose.


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Published Online: 2024-02-20

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