Exposure to online news about air pollution and public trust in regulators in China: a moderated mediation analysis of perceived risk and perceived news credibility

ABSTRACT

Public trust in regulators is critical to the effective management of environmental risks. This study proposes a model to explicate how people’s online news exposure, perceived risk, and perceived news credibility influence their trust in regulators concerning the issue of air pollution in China. An online survey showed that perceived risk fully mediated the relationship between online news exposure and trust in regulators. Through moderating the association between online news exposure and perceived risk, perceived news credibility also moderated the indirect effect: the negative indirect effect of online news exposure on trust in regulators via perceived risk was stronger when the level of perceived news credibility was high than when it was low. The results suggest that online news that attempts to make the public more conscious of air pollution hazards reduces public trust in regulators, especially when people perceive the news as highly credible. News media are supposed to inform the public of the issue and thus help air pollution management. However, the findings alert us that the amplification of public risk perception resulting from frequent online news exposure and the subsequent decline in public trust in regulators might impede the effective regulation of air pollution.

KEYWORDS:

• Online news exposure
• perceived risk
• perceived news credibility
• trust in regulators
• air pollution

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 These keywords are identified based on the results generated by WiseSearch, an online database that incorporates news that circulates over 6,000 websites and 800 social networking sites, including WeChat, Weibo, blogs, and BBS in China. January 2013 was set as the starting point for the search.

2 According to the Baidu Index (http://index.baidu.com/v2/index.html#/), the quantity of online news on air pollution in March 2016 was 80% higher than that in the previous month, indicating that a significant amount of news was circulating during this period.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by The National Social Science Foundation of the People’s Republic of China [Grant Number 19CXW029].

Notes on contributors

Qing Huang

Qing Huang is an assistant professor at the College of Media and International Culture, Public Diplomacy and Strategic Communication Research Center, Zhejiang University, China. Her research interests mainly focus on the interplay between digital media use, public risk perception, and social trust in areas of environmental problems, emerging technology, and public health in transitional China. Her work has been published in refereed journals such as Telematics and Informatics, Chinese Journal of Communication, International Journal of Communication, Public Relations Review, etc.