Examining Journalist’s Trust in Sources: An Analytical Model Capturing a Key Problem in Journalism

In order to maintain its credibility, news journalism largely depends on the accuracy of facts. One key factor necessary for building trust in journalism is the trustworthiness and reliability of its sources. News journalism needs to trust its sources to deliver accurate information in order to fulfill journalistic standards. Journalists always have to balance the risk of reporting selected parts of the constant flow of information. The process of fact checking to verify news material is of great importance in minimizing the risk. However, digitalization and the dramatic increase in possible news sources, demand new and better ways to cope with the issue of source trustworthiness. With a few exceptions, journalism research has not dealt with trust issues in the relationship between journalists and sources. In order to bridge this gap, we propose a reflexive understanding of journalistic trust in sources which is based on the perception of risk and trustworthiness. Based on an analytical model of journalism and an examination of the role of recipient’s trust in journalism, trust in journalistic sources is conceptualized building on source credibility research, as well as on sociological and psychological trust theory, respectively. An analytical model for trust in journalistic sources is developed for further research in this field and trust building in journalistic practices is described.