Trust in distant sources: An analytical model capturing antecedents of risk and trustworthiness as perceived by journalists

Abstract

The trustworthiness of journalistic sources has always been a crucial element of journalistic working patterns and gained recently prominence in the public discourse about spectacular verification fails. To ensure the correctness of news, journalists have to trust their sources to deliver reliable information. This article explores trust building processes in the relationship between journalists and distant sources they access online. Sociological and psychological trust literature and research on credibility are used to develop an analytical model of reflexive trust in journalistic sources. Based on qualitative data from 12 in-depth interviews with German journalists, the model is applied to relationships between home-based journalists and sources based in crisis regions.

How Journalists Establish Trust In Numbers And Statistics: Results From An Exploratory Study

“…These attitudes toward trust are far closer to what investigators such as Reich (2011;, Diekerhof and Bakker (2012) and Wintterlin (2017) have documented about source credibility. In this process, credibility is discretionary and must be negotiated separately for each source, and sometimes more than once for the same source across different stories.…”

“…This belief about the special characteristics of numbers has been recognized in the larger culture (Rose, 1991), but may function in more intensified form because of the particular needs of journalism. If journalists believe numbers are credible solely by virtue of being numbers, they may use this belief to sidestep the many problems of establishing trust and credibility news workers face as a regular part of their job (Lewicki, et al 1988;Wintterlin, 2017). Experimental studies have shown that numbers are often seen as markers of such journalistic values as accuracy, precision, or credibility (Koetsenruijter 2011;Roeh & Feldman 1984).…”

Unpacking Journalists’ (Dis)Trust: Expressions of Suspicion in the Narratives of Journalists Covering the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

“…Nevertheless, several studies have shown that journalists regularly doubt their sources and verify, interpret, and negotiate their testimony (Godler and Reich 2017; Mancini 1993). The rise of digital technology and social media platforms pose new trust-related challenges for journalists (Blöbaum 2014; Wintterlin 2017); while they provide access to distant sources and vast amounts of information, they are prone to manipulation and propaganda (Brandtzaeg et al 2016; Hermida 2012). In addition, the multiple forms of user-generated content, such as images and video, reshape and challenge traditional fact-checking and verification practices, further complicating journalistic suspicion management (Brandtzaeg et al 2016; Hermida 2012; Wintterlin 2017).…”

“…In an era of declining trust in social institutions, “post-truth” politics and “fake news” accusations, issues of suspicion and (dis)trust have become a central area of concern for communication and journalism scholars. While much attention has been paid to the level of public trust in the news media (e.g., Hanitzsch et al 2018; Quandt 2012), the manifestations of trust and distrust in journalists’ own perceptions and practices have received little scholarly attention (Blöbaum 2014; Hanitzsch and Berganza 2012; Wintterlin 2017). Furthermore, suspicion, as located within the trust–distrust continuum, lacks conceptual development.…”

Trustworthy Or Shady?

“…Due to digitalization-induced media changes such as the speed of (real-time) reporting, the possibility of including multimedia elements, and the ease with which recipients can use technology to play a more active part, integrating UGC has become an everyday practice in online journalism (Allan 2016;Bivens 2008;Manosevitch and Tenenboim 2016). Since UGC differs from other news sources in that it usually originates from nonprofessional entities, it causes new challenges with regard to sourcing practices such as verifiability (Wintterlin 2017;Brandtzaeg et al 2016;Pantti and Sirén 2015). Previous studies indicate that the impact of UGC may differ depending the mode of integration.…”