Buturoiu, RalucaCorbu, NicoletaOprea, Denisa AdrianaBoțan, Mădălina2024-10-282024-10-282022Buturoiu, R., Corbu, N., Oprea, D.A., & Boțan, M. (2022). Trust in information sources during the COVID-19 pandemic. A Romanian case study. Communications, 47(3), 375–394. https://doi.org/10.1515/commun-2020-0052https://doi.org/10.1515/commun-2020-0052https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/commun-2020-0052/htmlhttps://debdfdsi.snspa.ro/handle/123456789/453This is an open access article under the CC-BY 4.0 license, available at: file:///C:/Users/User/Downloads/10.1515_commun-2020-0052.pdf The article is published in Communications: The European Journal of Communication Research.Higher levels of trust in credible sources of information in times of crisis such as the current COVID-19 pandemic increase public compliance with official recommendations, minimizing health risks and helping authorities manage the crisis. Based on a national survey (N=1160), this article explores (a) actual levels of trust in various sources of information (government websites, legacy media, social media, and interpersonal communication) during the pandemic and (b) a number of predictors of such trust. Results show that during the period studied government websites were the most trusted source of information. Trust in an information source is correlated with consumption of COVID-19–related news from that specific source, media fact-checking, and self-perception about the incidence of COVID-19–related fake news. Only income and age are significant trust predictors, and only with respect to specific source types.enCrisis communicationMedia studiesNews consumptionInformation sourcesFake newsArticle