The relationship between news trust, mistrust and audience disengagement

Sora PARK; Caroline FISHER; Edson Tandoc; Uwe DULLECK; Shengnan Yao; William  Lukamto

doi:10.1177/14648849241299775

The relationship between news trust, mistrust and audience disengagement

Sora PARK
, Caroline FISHER
, Edson Tandoc
, Uwe DULLECK
, Shengnan Yao
, William Lukamto

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The global decline of trust in news is a concern for democracy and news organisations. It is often assumed that distrust in news will turn citizens away from it. However, the relationship between trust and news engagement is not straightforward. Those who distrust news may continue to consume it, and those who have high trust in news may choose to disengage from it. This study addresses this puzzling phenomenon by applying the concept of ‘mistrust’ and differentiating it from low or lack of trust. Mistrust is defined as exercising scepticism towards news and deferring trust. Confirmatory factor analysis of an online survey (n = 4401) conducted in Australia, Singapore and UK between March and April 2023 reveals that trust and mistrust are empirically separate constructs and that they co-exist. Further logistic regression analysis shows that mistrust can lead to news avoidance. This news avoidance does not necessarily mean disengagement from news. Instead, we find low trust is a factor that turns people away from news altogether. By deciphering the complex relationship between trust and mistrust, this study provides new insights into understanding audiences’ disengagement with news.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1-20
Number of pages	20
Journal	Journalism
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/14648849241299775
Publication status	Published - Nov 2024

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10.1177/14648849241299775Licence: CC BY-NC

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title = "The relationship between news trust, mistrust and audience disengagement",

abstract = "The global decline of trust in news is a concern for democracy and news organisations. It is often assumed that distrust in news will turn citizens away from it. However, the relationship between trust and news engagement is not straightforward. Those who distrust news may continue to consume it, and those who have high trust in news may choose to disengage from it. This study addresses this puzzling phenomenon by applying the concept of {\textquoteleft}mistrust{\textquoteright} and differentiating it from low or lack of trust. Mistrust is defined as exercising scepticism towards news and deferring trust. Confirmatory factor analysis of an online survey (n = 4401) conducted in Australia, Singapore and UK between March and April 2023 reveals that trust and mistrust are empirically separate constructs and that they co-exist. Further logistic regression analysis shows that mistrust can lead to news avoidance. This news avoidance does not necessarily mean disengagement from news. Instead, we find low trust is a factor that turns people away from news altogether. By deciphering the complex relationship between trust and mistrust, this study provides new insights into understanding audiences{\textquoteright} disengagement with news.",

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AU - Yao, Shengnan

AU - Lukamto, William

N1 - Funding Information: The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was supported by the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council\u2019s Discovery Projects funding scheme (DP210100157 The rise of mistrust: Digital platforms and trust in news media). Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2024.

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N2 - The global decline of trust in news is a concern for democracy and news organisations. It is often assumed that distrust in news will turn citizens away from it. However, the relationship between trust and news engagement is not straightforward. Those who distrust news may continue to consume it, and those who have high trust in news may choose to disengage from it. This study addresses this puzzling phenomenon by applying the concept of ‘mistrust’ and differentiating it from low or lack of trust. Mistrust is defined as exercising scepticism towards news and deferring trust. Confirmatory factor analysis of an online survey (n = 4401) conducted in Australia, Singapore and UK between March and April 2023 reveals that trust and mistrust are empirically separate constructs and that they co-exist. Further logistic regression analysis shows that mistrust can lead to news avoidance. This news avoidance does not necessarily mean disengagement from news. Instead, we find low trust is a factor that turns people away from news altogether. By deciphering the complex relationship between trust and mistrust, this study provides new insights into understanding audiences’ disengagement with news.

AB - The global decline of trust in news is a concern for democracy and news organisations. It is often assumed that distrust in news will turn citizens away from it. However, the relationship between trust and news engagement is not straightforward. Those who distrust news may continue to consume it, and those who have high trust in news may choose to disengage from it. This study addresses this puzzling phenomenon by applying the concept of ‘mistrust’ and differentiating it from low or lack of trust. Mistrust is defined as exercising scepticism towards news and deferring trust. Confirmatory factor analysis of an online survey (n = 4401) conducted in Australia, Singapore and UK between March and April 2023 reveals that trust and mistrust are empirically separate constructs and that they co-exist. Further logistic regression analysis shows that mistrust can lead to news avoidance. This news avoidance does not necessarily mean disengagement from news. Instead, we find low trust is a factor that turns people away from news altogether. By deciphering the complex relationship between trust and mistrust, this study provides new insights into understanding audiences’ disengagement with news.

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The relationship between news trust, mistrust and audience disengagement

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