User-Generated Content in Online Journalism: Exploring How Verifying and Visualizing UGC Influences Journalism’s Trustworthiness

• In Event: Advancing Research on Trust in the News

Abstract

This study examines how user-generated content influences recipients’ perceptions of online journalism’s trustworthiness. To this end, we conducted an online experiment that takes into consideration two specific modes of integrating UGC in an online news article, namely the verification and visual depiction of UGC. Furthermore, we compared the effect of UGC on news stories with different topics. Our results show that, in general, integrating UGC has a negative impact on recipients’ perceived trustworthiness of the news article, both for political and human interest news. Verification of UGC partly shows a positive impact on trustworthiness, but only for political news articles. Visual integration, moreover, has no substantial impact on trustworthiness in either news topic. Overall, the study sheds light on the hitherto somewhat neglected recipients’ perspective on UGC and lays the groundwork for future studies focusing on the reasons behind the uncovered effects on trustworthiness.

Authors

• Valerie Hase, U of Muenster

• Florian Wintterlin, U of Muenster

• Katherine Marie Grosser, U of Muenster

• Bernd Bloebaum