Antecedents and consequences of fake news exposure: a two-panel study on how news use and different indicators of fake news exposure affect media trust

Abstract

Despite abundant studies on “fake news,” the long-term consequences have been less explored. In this context, this study examines the dynamic relationship between traditional and social news media use, fake news exposure—measured as perceived fake news exposure and exposure to actual fake news stories, and mainstream media trust. We found interesting patterns across two U.S. panel survey studies. First, we found that exposure to fake news—regardless of how we measured it—decreased people’s trust in the mainstream media. Yet, we also found that while both social media and traditional news use were positively associated with exposure to actual fake news stories, only social media news use was positively associated with perceived fake news exposure. This finding implies that while many people believe that social media is the culprit of fake news exposure, traditional news use may also contribute to people’s exposure to popular fake news stories.