Clickbait and Its Impact on Media Trust: Analytical Review

<p><strong><em>Research purpose</em></strong><em> – to analyze the essence of the concept of «clickbait» in the modern media space; to determine its impact on the level of audience trust in mass media, the consequences of its use for media and society; to investigate the causes of emergence and spread of this phenomenon.</em></p><p><strong><em>Research methodology.</em></strong><em> To achieve the goal, a complex of methods was used, such as: method of system analysis, content analysis, discourse analysis, structural-semiotic analysis, generalization, theoretical modeling, and expert evaluation method.</em></p><p><strong><em>Research results.</em></strong><em> The article provides a comprehensive analysis of the concept of «clickbait» in the modern media space and its impact on the level of audience trust in media. Economic, technological, social, and psychological factors contributing to the spread of clickbait headlines in online media were studied. The manipulative mechanisms of clickbait’s influence on consumers perception of information in professional and ethical aspects of this phenomenon in the media space were analyzed. The need to increase media literacy of the target audience to counter the negative aspects of clickbait was substantiated.</em></p><p><strong><em>Novelty.</em></strong><em> Currently, the concept of «clickbait» affects not only professional and ethical problems in journalism but also forms a questionable media phenomenon at the intersection of economic and psychological factors, which primarily affects the state of information security during wartime.</em></p><p><strong><em>Practical significance</em></strong><em>. Formation of recommendations for reducing the negative impact of clickbait on the media environment. Substantiation of the importance of an ethical and professional relationship between clickbait and information security using the example of the russian-Ukrainian war, which allows considering the counteraction to clickbait as an important component of national information resilience of Ukrainian society.</em></p><p><strong><em>Key words:</em></strong><em> clickbait, information wars, ethics, trust, media, psychological techniques, headline, journalism, media literacy.</em></p><div><div><p> </p></div></div>