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Volume 23 • Issue 09 • 2024 • Special Issue: Public (dis)trust in science in digital media environments
Dec 16, 2024

Volume 23 • Issue 09 • 2024 • Special Issue: Public (dis)trust in science in digital media environments

This Special Issue of the Journal of Science Communication is dedicated to exploring public (dis)trust in science against the backdrop of changing information environments and potentially contrasting trends regarding audience’s increasing use of digital media. 

Editorials

Dec 16, 2024 Editorial
Public (dis)trust in science in digital media environments

by Anne Reif, Lars Guenther and Hiromi M. Yokoyama

This special issue examines public (dis)trust in science amidst evolving digital media environments, marked by the increasing prevalence of online information sources about scientific topics such as climate change and COVID-19. This editorial summarizes the nine publications that are part of the special issue and shows how they address different aspects of public (dis)trust in science in the context of digital media environments. Furthermore, we reflect on the selection and production process and give an outlook as to where future research could be heading. The papers highlight various perspectives on (dis)trust in science in digital media environments to foster a deeper understanding of the role of digital communication.

Volume 23 • Issue 09 • 2024 • Special Issue: Public (dis)trust in science in digital media environments

Articles

Dec 16, 2024 Article
The effects of witnessing harassment of scientists on public perceptions of science

by Jana Laura Egelhofer, Christina Seeger and Alice Binder

Scientists are increasingly affected by harassment, especially on social media. While initial research highlights the detrimental consequences for affected scientists, the increased visibility of harassment through social media might also negatively affect public perceptions of scientists. Using a preregistered 2x2 between-subjects experiment (N = 1,246), this study shows that exposure to uncivil comments harassing female or male scientists negatively affects citizens’ trust in the attacked scientists but not trust in scientists in general or scientific information. Furthermore, some of the effects are moderated by gender and science-related populist attitudes.

Volume 23 • Issue 09 • 2024 • Special Issue: Public (dis)trust in science in digital media environments

Dec 16, 2024 Article
“I think it gave me a little bit of mistrust”: exploring trust in COVID-19 science among college students

by Ch'Ree Essary

As the late teen and early adulthood years have been identified as a period in life where opinions regarding politics are formed, it is important to understand how the highly politicized science issue — the COVID-19 pandemic — may have influenced young adults’ trust in science and how they come to know the accuracy of science information. In order to explore these topics, this study employed a series of focus groups with college students (N = 22). Findings show that while focus group participants were largely trusting of science and science institutions, they were wary of government and politician interference in science and scientists who lack the integrity and benevolence to act in the best interests of the public.

Volume 23 • Issue 09 • 2024 • Special Issue: Public (dis)trust in science in digital media environments

Dec 16, 2024 Article
Public perceptions of trustworthiness and authenticity towards scientists in controversial scientific fields

by Markus Schug, Helena Bilandzic and Susanne Kinnebrock

This study investigates public perceptions of trustworthiness and authenticity regarding scientists engaged in controversial and less controversial fields with a cross-sectional survey of a German sample (“N” = 1007). Results indicate that scientists in controversial fields like COVID-19 or climate change are perceived as less trustworthy and authentic compared to scientists in less controversial fields or scientists without specification of their field. Additionally, we found that science-related media consumption shaped people´s trustworthiness and authenticity perceptions towards scientists. Our analysis points out how public perceptions of scientists vary if these scientists research controversial areas, actively participating in public (and media) life.

Volume 23 • Issue 09 • 2024 • Special Issue: Public (dis)trust in science in digital media environments

Dec 16, 2024 Article
Trust in science, trust in ChatGPT? How Germans think about generative AI as a source in science communication

by Mike S. Schäfer, Bastian Kremer, Niels G. Mede and Liliann Fischer

Generative AI like ChatGPT has been diagnosed to fundamentally impact different realms of life. This includes science communication, where GenAI tools are becoming important sources of science-related content for many people. This raises the question of whether people trust GenAI as a source in this field, a question that has not been answered sufficiently yet. Adapting a model developed by Roberts et al. [2013] and utilizing survey data from the German Science Barometer 2023, we find that Germans are rather sceptical about and do not strongly trust GenAI in science communication. Structural equation modelling shows that respondents' trust in GenAI as a source in science communication is driven strongly by their general trust in science, which is largely driven by their knowledge about science and the perception that science improves quality of life.

Volume 23 • Issue 09 • 2024 • Special Issue: Public (dis)trust in science in digital media environments

Dec 16, 2024 Article
Who, if not science, can you trust to guide you through a crisis? The relationship between public trust in science and exposure to established and alternative online sources in times of crisis

by Fabian Zimmermann, Christine Petersen and Matthias Kohring

In light of global crises such as COVID-19, we argue that people’s trust in science drives their media choices in the digital sphere. The results from a German online survey show that individuals who perceive scientists as trustworthy in terms of ability, benevolence, and integrity, confidently expect science to provide accurate knowledge and guide reasonable decision-making in times of crisis. In turn, these positive trusting expectations towards science increase the use of established journalistic and scientific online sources for accessing scientific information. In contrast, people with low or no trust in science tend to resort to the messenger Telegram and ‘alternative’ online media outlets. Interestingly, the individual need for orientation does not amplify this association between trust in science and digital media use in a crisis situation.

Volume 23 • Issue 09 • 2024 • Special Issue: Public (dis)trust in science in digital media environments

Dec 16, 2024 Article
Intermediaries in the limelight: how exposure to trust cues in content about science affects public trust in science

by Lars Guenther, Justin T. Schröder, Anne Reif, Janise Brück, Monika Taddicken, Peter Weingart and Evelyn Jonas

A potential decline in public trust in science has often been linked to digital media environments, which serve as intermediaries of trust by providing cues for why (not) to trust science. This study examines whether exposure to trust cues in content affects public trust in science (across population groups). The study employs a mixed-method design, combining content analysis (“n” = 906) and panel survey data (“n” = 1,030) in Germany. The findings reveal that exposure to trust cues in certain media predicts public trust in science. Variations across trust groups indicate a nuanced nature of trust-assessing processes in digital media environments.

Volume 23 • Issue 09 • 2024 • Special Issue: Public (dis)trust in science in digital media environments

Dec 16, 2024 Article
(Un)certainty in science and climate change: a longitudinal analysis (2014–2022) of narratives about climate science on social media in Brazil (Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter)

by Roberta Lima, Andre L. Belem, Diógenes Lycarião, Thaiane Oliveira, Simone Evangelista, Luisa Massarani and Marcelo Alves

This article examines climate change discourse on Brazilian social media from 2014 to 2022 and use a longitudinal approach, analyzing discourse, scientific authority, and eco-emotions on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Methods include TF-IDF for feature extraction, sentiment analysis with VADER, and Named Entity Recognition (NER). A Ridge Classifier was trained on 557 manually classified samples. Findings show no significant increase in challenges to scientific authority or skepticism, but reveal a subtle shift towards using uncertainty as a rhetorical tool to undermine trust in scientific discourse.

Volume 23 • Issue 09 • 2024 • Special Issue: Public (dis)trust in science in digital media environments

Dec 16, 2024 Article
How different science communicators use identity strategies to gain public trust: a study on astronomy and climate change issues on a Chinese knowledge sharing platform

by Zheng Yang, Yuanting Huang, Tao Yang and Taoran Yu

Science communication has seen a trend of diverse communicators in recent decades, who adopt different identity strategies to gain audience trust. This study focuses on the strategies used by three different groups of science communicators, including scientists, citizens and institutions, as well as the potential effects that may arise from these different strategies in terms of audience trust through quantitative content analysis. The findings show that communicators have biases towards using different strategies. There are also significant differences in the trust effects generated by different strategies used by different science communicators in different science topics. This indicates that the effect of science communication varies for different groups of science communicators and different science topics, and it is difficult to generate a universally applicable model, which further corresponds to the current trend of ‘diversification’ and ‘contextualization’ in science communication research.

Volume 23 • Issue 09 • 2024 • Special Issue: Public (dis)trust in science in digital media environments

Practice Insights

Dec 16, 2024 Practice Insight
Harnessing multimodal and multilingual science communication to combat misinformation in a diverse country setting

by Kim Trollip, Michael Gastrow, Shandir Ramlagan and Yolande Shean

This practice insight explores how translation and multimedia formats, such as video and audio, can enhance science communication efforts to combat community-driven misinformation and build trust within communities. Focusing on a national HIV survey, it details strategies for countering misinformation spread via platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp, which falsely accused data collectors of criminal activity. The research team’s response included multilingual, multimodal digital communication and community engagement, demonstrating the effectiveness of this blended approach in restoring trust and dispelling misinformation in diverse social and linguistic settings.

Volume 23 • Issue 09 • 2024 • Special Issue: Public (dis)trust in science in digital media environments

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