Trust in the media has suffered greatly from the prevalence of fake news and misinformation over the past few years.  A new study from Rutgers University-New Brunswick reminds us that this break down in trust is also influenced by our peers and the people we encounter online.

The research found that the interactions we have with people both online and offline have a strong influence on our faith in the media, especially when those views are negative.

The study revealed that the social interactions we have all tend to influence our trust in print, television and online media, but that negative and cynical views are especially potent when expressed online.

Peer pressure

The researchers quizzed a few hundred volunteers, all of whom have a reasonable degree of relationship with one another.  They were tracked over a period of time, and it emerged that their faith in the news media was heavily influenced by the face-to-face interactions they had with others of like mind.  When it comes to forming a more negative view of the media however, online interactions were more influential.

“With face-to-face interaction we can choose our conversation partners, but we receive their views without artificial filters and might be swayed by either positive or negative views. But on social media, we can selectively pay attention to some of the stories shared with us and ignore others. People have a known negativity bias, and that makes it more likely that we will notice more the cynical and disparaging posts,” the researchers say.  “This can make it harder to step back and evaluate what we’re reading online, and to separate opinion from fact and bias from well-reasoned arguments.”

The volunteers completed surveys throughout the process, and there was a clear change in their views throughout, with a particular erosion in trust in the mainstream news media during that time.

The findings are an interesting insight into what is a crucial area, as an impartial media is one of the pillars of liberal democracy, and so an erosion in trust in it is of considerable concern.

“Most of us like to think that we are exposed to a balanced set of views. The truth is that we are more influenced by people who agree with us and share our political opinions,” the authors conclude.  “Findings about the outsized influence of cynical views online are also concerning, especially given how much of our social interactions take place on the internet.”