Audience Expectations and Trust in Online Journalism
Audience Expectations and Trust in Online Journalism

Summary/Abstract: Audience trust towards journalism gives meaning to the work of journalists. Yet this trust isin decline, which is threatening both media businesses and the society at large. This develop-ment is the worrisome but still natural result of trust’s intrinsic qualities. Trust is context-de-pendent: different situations evoke different expectations, the fulfilment of which defines whatis “worthy of trust”. Changes to the journalistic environment shift audience expectations andthus disrupt the existing trust. The Internet and the introduction of online journalism are majordrivers of such change. In light of these changes we can ask: what does the audience expectfrom online journalism? This article explores the question using experimental focus-group in-terviews with young Finnish adults (aged 18–28; n = 34). The results suggest this audiencesegment has very traditional, even puritan ideals for journalism – and that Finnish online jour-nalism is not always able to meet the audience’s expectations.

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