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The Conversation
The Conversation
Randy Stein, Associate Professor of Marketing, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

Readers trust journalists less when they debunk rather than confirm claims

Seeing a lie or error corrected can make some people more skeptical of the fact-checker. FG Trade/E+ via Getty Images

Pointing out that someone else is wrong is a part of life. And journalists need to do this all the time – their job includes helping sort what’s true from what’s not. But what if people just don’t like hearing corrections?

Our new research, published in the journal Communication Research, suggests that’s the case. In two studies, we found that people generally trust journalists when they confirm claims to be true but are more distrusting when journalists correct false claims.

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