The relationship between news trust, mistrust and audience disengagement

The global decline of trust in news is a concern for democracy and news organisations. It is often assumed that distrust in news will turn citizens away from it. However, the relationship between trust and news engagement is not straightforward. Those who distrust news may continue to consume it, and those who have high trust in news may choose to disengage from it. This study addresses this puzzling phenomenon by applying the concept of ‘mistrust’ and differentiating it from low or lack of trust. Mistrust is defined as exercising scepticism towards news and deferring trust. Confirmatory factor analysis of an online survey ( n = 4401) conducted in Australia, Singapore and UK between March and April 2023 reveals that trust and mistrust are empirically separate constructs and that they co-exist. Further logistic regression analysis shows that mistrust can lead to news avoidance. This news avoidance does not necessarily mean disengagement from news. Instead, we find low trust is a factor that turns people away from news altogether. By deciphering the complex relationship between trust and mistrust, this study provides new insights into understanding audiences’ disengagement with news.