Re-thinking Trust in the News

This article argues that trust in journalism is a critical mechanism in social cohesion. However, trust research in journalism has a critical flaw, since trust is measured as news consumption, while journalists’ roles are considered via questions of authority. However, scholars have thought about trust in limited ways that have failed to address the relational nature of trust that includes journalists, audiences, sources, and other social actors such “objects of journalism.” The material turn in journalism is invoked as a way to move beyond this dichotomy. Via hard and soft objects of journalism, discussed here as news buildings, “raw materials” of journalism, and digital news products like software inspire new ways of thinking about trust.