Only “sheep” trust journalists? How citizens’ self-perceptions shape their approach to news

Jacob L. Nelson; Seth C. Lewis

doi:10.1177/14614448211018160

Only “sheep” trust journalists? How citizens’ self-perceptions shape their approach to news

Jacob L. Nelson, Seth C. Lewis

Journalism and Mass Communication, Walter Cronkite School of (CRONKITE)

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

24 Scopus citations

Abstract

The all-consuming nature of coronavirus news coverage has made the COVID-19 pandemic a unique opportunity to explore the relationship between audience trust in and engagement with news. This study examines that relationship through 60 Zoom-based qualitative interviews conducted with a diverse sample of US adults during the early phase of the pandemic. We find that how people approach the news stems not only from how they perceive the trustworthiness of individual news outlets, but also from their own self-perceptions. News consumers believe journalism generally suffers from issues of bias, but that they are savvy and independent-minded enough to see through those biases to find the truth. Putting the concept of partisan selective exposure into conversation with folk theories of news consumption, we conclude that people’s approach to and trust in news is as dependent on what they bring to the news as it is on what news brings to them.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	1522-1541
Number of pages	20
Journal	New Media and Society
Volume	25
Issue number	7
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448211018160
State	Published - Jul 2023

Keywords

Audiences
COVID-19
folk theories
journalism
news consumption
partisan selective exposure
qualitative interviews

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Communication
Sociology and Political Science

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10.1177/14614448211018160

Cite this

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title = "Only “sheep” trust journalists? How citizens{\textquoteright} self-perceptions shape their approach to news",

abstract = "The all-consuming nature of coronavirus news coverage has made the COVID-19 pandemic a unique opportunity to explore the relationship between audience trust in and engagement with news. This study examines that relationship through 60 Zoom-based qualitative interviews conducted with a diverse sample of US adults during the early phase of the pandemic. We find that how people approach the news stems not only from how they perceive the trustworthiness of individual news outlets, but also from their own self-perceptions. News consumers believe journalism generally suffers from issues of bias, but that they are savvy and independent-minded enough to see through those biases to find the truth. Putting the concept of partisan selective exposure into conversation with folk theories of news consumption, we conclude that people{\textquoteright}s approach to and trust in news is as dependent on what they bring to the news as it is on what news brings to them.",

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Only “sheep” trust journalists? How citizens’ self-perceptions shape their approach to news

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Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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