In the brand we trust? The moderating role of journalistic values and news topics in the relation between news source and trust in news

This paper examines the relation between news source and trust, while considering the moderating role of journalistic values and type of issue the news deals with (politicized/ not politicized). We conducted a survey experiment in the Netherlands and Sweden. Results suggest that source type indeed matters for trust in news, and that information stemming from traditional sources is much more trusted than identical information coming from alternative websites or social media. The impact of source cue is partly explained by the weight people attach to journalistic values. This effect holds regardless of the issue the news deals with.