The COVID-19 pandemic was accompanied by an infodemic in which trust in news played an essential role. This article analyzes how this trust can be divided into two components, institutional and non-institutional, which are differentially related to beliefs about COVID-19 and perceptions of receiving misinformation and disinformation. Based on a survey conducted in three European countries (Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom), the study confirms that higher levels of institutional news trust (the trust dimension correlated more with trust in the news media, government, politicians, national and global health organizations, and scientists) are a good predictor of both better knowledge of COVID-19 myths and misstatements, and lower perceptions of being surrounded by false and misleading information about the virus. The research also highlights the special role of media and political sources in strengthening the institutional dimension of news trust.
AllingtonDDuffyBWesselySDhavanNRubinJ (2020) Health-protective behaviour, social media usage and conspiracy belief during the COVID-19 public health emergency. Psychological Medicine51(10): 1763–1769.
2.
AlthausSL (2002) American news consumption during times of national crisis. Political Science & Politics35(3): 517–521.
3.
Ardèvol-AbreuAGil de ZúnigaH (2017) Effects of editorial media bias perception and media trust on the use of traditional, citizen, and social media news. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly94(3): 703–724.
4.
BaptistaJPGradimA (2020) Understanding fake news consumption: A review. Social Sciences9(10): 185.
5.
BarberB (1983) The Logic and Limits of Trust. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
6.
BjørnskovC (2012) How does social trust affect economic growth?Southern Economic Journal78(4):1346–1368.
7.
BridgmanAMerkleyELoewenPJOwenTRuthsDTeichmannL, et al. (2020) The causes and consequences of COVID-19 misperceptions: Understanding the role of news and social media. Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review. Available at: https://doi:10.37016/mr-2020-028 (accessed 11 May 2021).
8.
ButcherP (2021) COVID-19 as a turning point in the fight against disinformation. Nature Electronics4(1): 7–9.
9.
CalvilloDPGarciaRJBBertrandKMayersTA (2021) Personality factors and self-reported political news consumption predict susceptibility to political fake news. Personality and Individual Differences174: 110666.
10.
CeronA (2015) Internet, news, and political trust: The difference between social media and online media outlets. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication20(5): 487–503.
11.
CheungGWRensvoldRB (2002) Evaluating goodness-of-fit indexes for testing measurement invariance. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal9(2): 233–255.
12.
De ConinckDFrissenTMatthijsKd’ HaenensLLitsGChampagne-PoirierO, et al. (2021) Beliefs in conspiracy theories and misinformation about COVID-19: Comparative perspectives on the role of anxiety, depression and exposure to and trust in information sources. Frontiers in Psychology12: 646394. Available at: https://doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.646394 (accessed 20 June 2021).
13.
DelheyJNewtonKWelzelC (2011) How general is trust in ‘most people’? Solving the radius of trust problem. American Sociological Review76(5): 786–807.
14.
DhananiLYFranzB (2020) The role of news consumption and trust in public health leadership in shaping COVID-19 knowledge and prejudice. Frontiers in Psychology11: 560828. Available at: https://doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.560828 (accessed 10 March 2020).
15.
DryhurstSSchneiderCRKerrJFreemanALJRecchiaGVan der BlesAM, et al. (2020) Risk perceptions of COVID-19 around the world. Journal of Risk Research 23(7–8): 994–1006.
16.
ElvestadEPhillipsAFeuersteinM (2018) Can trust in traditional news media explain cross-national differences in news exposure of young people online?Digital Journalism6(2): 216–235.
17.
FerreiraGBBorgesS (2020) Media and misinformation in times of covid-19: How people informed themselves in the days following the portuguese declaration of the state of emergency. Journalism and Media1(1): 108–121.
18.
FukuyamaF (1995) Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity. New York, NY: Free Press.
19.
GarryJFordRJohnsR (2022) Coronavirus conspiracy beliefs, mistrust, and compliance: Taking measurement seriously. Psychological Medicine52: 3116–3126. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/s0033291720005164 (accessed 10 January 2021).
20.
Gil de ZúñigaHArdèvol-AbreuADiehlTGómez PatiñoMLiuJH (2019) Trust in institutional actors across 22 countries. Examining political, science, and media trust around the world. Revista Latina de Comunicación Social74: 237–262.
21.
GrovierT (1997) Social Trust and Human Communities. Montreal, QC, Canada: McGill-Queen’s University Press.
22.
GuessANaglerJTuckerJ (2019) Less than you think: Prevalence and predictors of fake news dissemination on Facebook. Science Advances5(1): 1–8.
23.
HairJFBlackWCJrBabinBJAndersonRE (2010) Multivariate Data Analysis. New York, NY: Pearson Prentice Hall.
24.
HallinDCManciniP (2004) Comparing Media Systems. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
25.
HameleersMBrosiusAMarquartFGoldbergACVan ElsasEde VreeseCH (2022) Mistake or manipulation? Conceptualizing perceived mis- and disinformation among news consumers in 10 European countries. Communication Research49: 919–941.
26.
HanitzschTVan DalenASteindlN (2018) Caught in the nexus: A comparative and longitudinal analysis of public trust in the press. The International Journal of Press/Politics23(1): 3–23.
27.
HanssonSOrruKTorpanSBäckAKazemekaityteAMeyerSF, et al. (2021) COVID-19 information disorder: Six types of harmful information during the pandemic in Europe. Journal of Risk Research24(3–4): 380–393.
28.
HimelboimILariscyRWTinkhamSFSweetserKD (2012) Social media and online political communication: The role of interpersonal informational trust and openness. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media56(1): 92–115.
29.
HoustonJThorsonEKimEMantralaMK (2021) COVID-19 communication ecology: Visualizing communication resource connections during a public health emergency using network analysis. American Behavioral Scientist65(7): 893–913.
30.
HuBZhangD (2014) Channel selection and knowledge acquisition during the 2009 Beijing H1N1 flu crisis: A media system dependency theory perspective. Chinese Journal of Communication7(3): 299–318.
31.
HwangYJeongS-H (2020) A channel-specific analysis of the Risk Information Seeking and Processing (RISP) model: The role of relevant channel beliefs and perceived information gathering capacity. Science Communication42(3): 279–312.
32.
InoueMShimouraKNagai-TanimaMAoyamaT (2022) The relationship between information sources, health literacy, and COVID-19 knowledge in the COVID-19 infodemic: Cross-sectional online study in Japan. Journal of Medical Internet Research24(7): e38332.
33.
JackobN (2010) ‘No alternatives?’ The relationship between perceived media dependency, use of alternative information sources, and general trust in mass media. International Journal of Communication4: 589–606.
34.
JackobN (2012) The tendency to trust as individual predisposition – Exploring the associations between interpersonal trust, trust in the media and trust in institutions. Communications37(1): 99–120.
35.
JenningsFJRussellFM (2019) Civility, credibility, and health information: The impact of uncivil comments and source credibility on attitudes about vaccines. Public Understanding of Science28(4): 417–432.
36.
KimSKimS (2020) The crisis of public health and infodemic: Analyzing belief structure of fake news about COVID-19 pandemic. Sustainability12(23): 9904.
37.
KnightJ (2001) Social norms and the rule of law: Fostering trust in a socially diverse society. In: CookKS (ed.) Trust in Society. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation, pp. 354–373.
38.
LiuZShanJDelaloyeMPiguetJ-GGlassey BaletN (2020) The role of public trust and media in managing the dissemination of COVID-19-related news in Switzerland. Journalism and Media1(1): 145–158.
39.
LüdersM (2008) Conceptualizing personal media. New Media & Society10(5): 683–702.
40.
LuhmannN (1979) Trust and Power. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.
MohseniMLindströmM (2007) Social capital, trust in the health-care system and self-rated health: The role of access to health care in a population-based study. Social Science & Medicine64(7): 1373–1383.
43.
NgRChowTYJYangW (2021) News media narratives of Covid-19 across 20 countries: Early global convergence and later regional divergence. PLoS ONE16(9): e0256358.
44.
NguyenACatalan-MatamorosD (2020) Digital mis/disinformation and public engagement with health and science controversies: Fresh perspectives from Covid-19. Media and Communication8(2): 323–328.
OrsoDFedericiNCopettiRVetrugnoLBoveT (2020) Infodemic and the spread of fake news in the COVID-19-era. European Journal of Emergency Medicine27(5): 327–328.
47.
PennycookGRandDG (2019) Lazy, not biased: Susceptibility to partisan fake news is better explained by lack of reasoning than by motivated reasoning. Cognition188: 39–50.
48.
QuandtT (2012) What’s left of trust in a network society? An evolutionary model and critical discussion of trust and societal communication. European Journal of Communication27(1): 7–21.
49.
RaveslootCJVan der SchaafMFMuijtjensAMHaaringCKruitwagenCLJBeekFJ, et al. (2015) The don’t know option in progress testing. Advances in Health Sciences Education20(5): 1325–1338.
50.
RetzbachAMaierM (2015) Communicating scientific uncertainty: Media effects on public engagement with science. Communication Research42(3): 429–456.
51.
RoozenbeekJSchneiderCRDryhurstSKerrJFreemanARecchiaG, et al. (2020a) Susceptibility to misinformation about COVID-19 around the World. Royal Society Open Science7(10): e201199.
52.
RoozenbeekJVan der LindenSNygrenT (2020b) Prebunking interventions based on ‘inoculation’ theory can reduce susceptibility to misinformation across cultures. Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review. Available at: https://doi.org/10.37016//mr-2020-008 (accessed 10 May 2021).
53.
SønderskovKMDinesenPT (2016) Trusting the state, trusting each other? The effect of institutional trust on social trust. Political Behavior38(1): 179–202.
54.
SalaverríaRBuslónNLópez-PanFLeónBLópez-GoñiIErvitiM-C (2020) Desinformación en tiempos de pandemia: tipología de los bulos sobre la Covid-19 [Disinformation in times of pandemic: typology of Covid-19 hoaxes]. El Profesional de la Información29(3): e290315.
55.
SpadaroGGanglKVan ProoijenJ-WVan LangePAMMossoCO (2020) Enhancing feelings of security: How institutional trust promotes interpersonal trust. PLoS ONE15(9): e0237934.
56.
SpohrD (2017) Fake news and ideological polarization. Business Information Review34(3): 150–160.
57.
StanleyMBarrNPetersSKSeliP (2020) Analytic-thinking predicts hoax beliefs and helping behaviors in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Thinking & Reasoning27(3): 464–477.
58.
SturgisPAllumNSmithP (2008) An experiment on the measurement of political knowledge in surveys. Public Opinion Quarterly72(1): 90–102.
59.
TanejaHYaegerK (2019) Do people consume the news they trust?Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on human factors in computing systems, Glasgow, 4–9 May, pp. 1–10. New York, NY: ACM. Available at: https://doi:10.1145/3290605.3300770 (accessed 10 July 2021).
60.
ThunebergHSalmiH (2018) To know or not to know: Uncertainty is the answer. Synthesis of six different science exhibition contexts. Journal of Science Communication17(2): A01.
61.
TsfatiYArielyG (2014) Individual and contextual correlates of trust in media across 44 countries. Communication Research41(6): 760–782.
62.
UscinskiJEEndersAMKlofstadCSeeligMFunchionJEverettC, et al. (2020) Why do people believe COVID-19 conspiracy theories?Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review. Available at: https://doi.org/10.37016/mr-2020-015 (accessed 25 June 2021).
63.
Van AelstPTothFCastroLŠtětkaVde VreeseCAalbergT, et al. (2021) Does a crisis change news habits? A comparative study of the effects of COVID-19 on news media use in 17 European countries. Digital Journalism9: 1208–1238.
64.
Van der LindenSPanagopoulosCRoozenbeekJ (2020) You are fake news: Political bias in perceptions of fake news. Media, Culture & Society42(3): 460–470.
65.
VermeerSKruikemeierDTrillingDde VreeseC (2022) Using panel data to study political interest, news media trust, and news media use in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Journalism Studies23: 740–760.
66.
WardP (2006) Trust, reflexivity and dependence: A ‘social systems theory’ analysis in/of medicine. European Journal of Social Quality6: 143–158.
67.
WilliamsAE (2012) Trust or bust? Questioning the relationship between media trust and news attention. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media56(1): 116–131.
WuYShenF (2021) Exploring the impacts of media use and media trust on health behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic in China. Journal of Health Psychology27(6): 1445–1461.
70.
ZarocostasJ (2020) How to fight an infodemic. The Lancet395: 676.
71.
ZhaoEWuQCrimminsEMAilshireJA (2020) Media trust and infection mitigating behaviours during the COVID-19 pandemic in the USA. BMJ Global Health5(10): e003323.
72.
ZouWTangL (2021) What do we believe in? Rumors and processing strategies during the COVID-19 outbreak in China. Public Understanding of Science30(2): 153–168.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
