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PP 289
“Fool Me Once!” Exploring the Effects of Deception by Ads That Resemble News
E. Knudsen
1
1
University of Bergen, Department of information science and media studies, Bergen, Norway
In its current state, journalism is dependent on being perceived as a credible source for information, as well as in need of revenue from advertising and
a paying audience. As profits are declining, publishers have increasingly counted on “native advertising” to replace the losses from traditional ad revenue.
Native advertising are ads that closely resemble the look of news and “blend in” with regular journalistic content. Crucially, such ads can provide a much
needed increase in revenue from advertising. Still, critics claim that journalism runs the risk of ending up with the same credibility and level of trust as
advertising, as a result of the one resembling the other. This has sparked a heavy debate regarding the potential consequences of native advertising, and
accordingly an increasing academic interest in the phenomenon. Yet, our knowledge about the actual effects of the phenomenon is currently limited.
Previous studies have indicated that exposure to such ads can reduce people’s trust in news content to a small, but statistically significant degree. However,
we have yet to understand why such effects occur. The native format's notion of trickery may be a key component in triggering a reduction in trust. Against
this background, the present paper seeks to contribute with an empirical study that investigates why such ads influences trust in news. Theoretically, this
paper adopts the view that journalism and journalistic credibility is reliant on boundaries between what is considered independent journalism, and what
is considered advertising. Building on this notion, readers may well feel deceived when they realize that a story is an ad, and not editorial content. Through
an online survey experiment (N=1000) representative of the Norwegian population, we investigate the effects of making participants aware of the fact that
they have been deceived and lead to believe that an ad is a regular news article.We utilize a 2 (editorial/native ad) by 2 (an explanation making participants
attentive to the fact that the article was an [ad/ a news article]/no explanation) factorial design. Will people trust news and journalists less if they are made
aware that they have been lead to believe that a story is editorial content, and not advertisement? As the experiment is currently in field, we have yet to
reveal the results. However, we expect that people exposed to a native ad and subsequently made attentive to the fact that the story they read was an ad
(and not editorial content), will be less likely to trust journalists and journalistic content in general, than participants that are not made attentive to this.
We also expect that these readers will be less likely to trust newspapers to clearly distinguish journalistic content and advertising. The results will guide
a discussion regarding the wider ramifications of such effects for the future of digital journalism and readers trust in journalism.
PP 290
The Impact of the European Debt Crisis on Trust in Journalism
A. Köhler
1
, K. Otto
1
1
University Würzburg, Economics Journalism, Würzburg, Germany
Problems Since 2009 we find a decline in trust in the press. However, we found differences between the European countries. Only 32 percent of people in
Greece tended to trust the press in 2015, 36 percent in Spain, but 54 percent in Sweden and 63 percent in the Netherlands. In 2009, a debt crisis unfolded
in Europe. The crisis had significant adverse economic effects and labour market effects, with unemployment rates in Greece and Spain reaching 27 percent.
This influences the trust in political institutions and in their problem-solving competence.We know that trust in media is linked with the trust in the political
system and democracy (Tsfati/Ariely 2013). Moreover, it depends on the economic situation (Zmerli/Newton/Montero 2006). Are the citizens’ disappoint‑
ments with political decisions which cause an economic crises projected on the mediator ‒ the journalists? Research questions This study investigates
the impact of the European financial crisis, its economic effects and effects on the trust in political institutions on the tendency to trust in mass media in
the European Union: RQ1: What connection is there between the economic situation, the trust in political institutions and the tendency to trust in media?
RQ2: Is there an impact of the European debt crisis on the tendency to trust in media in the affected countries? RQ3: Are there differences between different
media channels, like press,TV, the internet and radio? RQ4: How do the detected influences develop? Did these trends become more intensive since the start
of the European financial and economic crisis? Methodology The study analyses the Eurobarometer empirical survey primary data on microdata level. This
standard Eurobarometer survey was carried out in November 2015 in the 28 member states of the European Union and several candidate states. Time serial
analysis can be executed beginning in 2001. For the Eurobarometer survey around 1.000 people were interviewed in each state. The question “For each
of the following institutions, please tell me if you tend to trust it or tend not to trust it?” is asked for written press, TV, radio and the internet. They also ask
about the economic situation of the households of the participants and their trust in several political institutions. Data on national debt, indicating the ex‑
tend of the European debt crisis, are added from Eurostat. Differences between states and media channels will be detected with the generation of cross
tables and tests of significance. The impact of the economic situation and the national debt will be measured by correlation analysis. Results We expect
that the economic situation of a country determines the attitude towards the political system which in turn affects the trust or mistrust in media. 2014
Eurobarometer data indicate that people in a bad financial situation don’t tend to trust in media as much as people in a good financial situation. Although
there are variations between different media channels, the trend is the same for written press, radio, television and the internet.