FACTORS AFFECTING NEWS MEDIA CREDIBILITY: A PERCEPTION STUDY

Abstract

This thesis explores the factors affecting news media credibility by examining two potential key factors; news trust and reporter’s credibility. Study also explores minor themes such as students' media preferences for news, news consumption habits, fact-checking behaviors and trust in news sources. Students from three educational institutions participated in the study: Government College Samanabad Faisalabad, Agriculture University Faisalabad, and Government College University Faisalabad (GCUF). Students (n=250) were given a survey questionnaire which measures variables on a 5.0 Likert scale. Regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses. Findings show good model fit value for news trust (Adjusted R²=.393) and for reporter credibility (Adjusted R²=.115). Furthermore, the results demonstrate a high-level association for the model of news trust and news media credibility and the model of reporter credibility and news media credibility. Descriptive statistics demonstrate that social media was the most popular news source (76.4%), followed by TV (12.8%) and newspapers (5.6%). Students' fact-checking behavior varies, with 49.6% occasionally verifying news, 18.0% who rarely do so, and 5.2% who never verify information.