04/07/2021 | News release | Archived content
Communications Coordinator
Center for Media Engagement
Austin, Texas, USA
Connect
The issue of trust in news has been tackled from a multitude of angles. Previous research revealed how newsrooms can build trust by making changes to story content or news site elements. Now a new study shows us that trust can also be built or broken before consumers even click through to a news site.
Research released by the Center for Media Engagement shows people could get a sense for how much they trust a news organisation by viewing certain information in a knowledge panel, the sidebar shown alongside a Google search. The findings of the study identify several elements that should be shown when people search for a news organisation.
Participants in the study were shown knowledge panels with random combinations of signals or information about a news outlet designed to convey more or less trust. Experiments were conducted in the United States, Germany, and Brazil to see how the trust signals worked in different cultures with varying levels of news trust.
There were seven signal categories tested in each country:
This example shows all the signals intended to convey trustworthiness. People saw different combinations of signals - some trustworthy, some not trustworthy, some neutral, or altogether absent.
The most important trust signal to people in all three countries was the description of the news outlet. Descriptions noting the news outlet had a "worldwide reputation" increased trust. Unsurprisingly, descriptions noting the outlet "regularly publishes fake news that has been linked to harassment and conspiracy theories" decreased trust.
Another important factor in assessing trust was viewing which additional news outlets visitors accessed. People had higher trust in news outlets when visitors also accessed reputable news sites and lower trust when visitors also accessed sites that trafficked in conspiracy theories.
Having a corrections policy verified by an independent entity was more important to people in the United States and Brazil in signifying trust, but signaled more distrust in Germany when it was absent. In the United States, failing to provide information about a newsroom's founding date, awards, and journalists decreased trust.
The results of this study show the following signals can act as powerful indicators of trust and should appear when people search for a news outlet:
For newsrooms, it's important to make sure elements like awards information, founding date, and journalist bios are available on the news Web site.
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Katalina Deaven is the communications coordinator at the Center for Media Engagement located in Austin, Texas, USA. She can be reached at [email protected] or @EngagingNews.