How News Coverage of Misinformation Shapes Perceptions and Trust

This Element shows that although news coverage of misinformation has increased, it has not eroded trust in traditional media.

Emily Thorson (Author)

9781009488808, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 20 June 2024

82 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 0.4 cm, 0.133 kg

This Element takes on two related questions: How do the media cover the issue of misinformation, and how does exposure to this coverage affect public perceptions, including trust? A content analysis shows that most media coverage explicitly blames social media for the problem, and two experiments find that while exposure to news coverage of misinformation makes people less trusting of news on social media, it increases trust in print news. This counterintuitive effect occurs because exposure to news about misinformation increases the perceived value of traditional journalistic norms. Finally, exposure to misinformation coverage has no measurable effect on political trust or internal efficacy, and political interest is a strong predictor of interest in news coverage of misinformation across partisan lines. These results suggest that many Americans see legacy media as a bulwark against changes that threaten to distort the information environment.

1. Introduction
2. Media attention to the misinformation phenomenon
3. Potential effects of news coverage of misinformation
4. Study 1: how misinformation coverage shapes perceptions and trust
5. Study 2: misinformation coverage and media trust
6. Study 3: why does misinformation coverage increase media trust?
7. Conclusion
References.

Subject Areas: Politics & government [JP]