DISINFORMATION AND MEDIA TRUST IN THE SOUTH OF EUROPE. A MODERATED MEDIATION MODEL

Our study explores how the type of news source acts as an intermediary in the connection between people's concerns about disinformation and their overall trust in the media. Additionally, we examine how a person's ideology influences their choice of news sources and, ultimately, their trust in news in general. To do so, we examine data from the Digital News Report 2022 (N= 10,106) for five news markets: France (N= 2059), Greece (N= 2004), Italy (N= 2004), Portugal (N= 2011), and Spain (N= 2028). The results confirm that ideology plays a moderating role in the relationships between << disinformation concern >>, << trust in media >>, and << type of media source >>. Increased concern about disinformation significantly decreases trust in the news. Individuals who are concerned about disinformation have higher consumption of traditional media (press, radio, and television). This research presents a moderated model that explains how these various factors interact to shape media trust.