Online news portals get credibility boost from trusted sources

University Park, Pa. People who read news on the Web tend to trust the gate even if there is no gatekeeper, according to Penn State researchers. When readers access a story from a credible news source they trust through an online portal, they also tend to trust the portal, said S. Shyam Sundar, Distinguished Professor of and co-director of the Media Effects Research Laboratory. Most of these portals use computers, not people, to automatically sort and post stories. Sundar said this transfer of credibility provides online news portals - Yahoo News and Google News - with most of the benefits, but with little of the costs associated with online publishing. "A news portal that uses stories from a credible source gets a boost in credibility and might even make money through advertising," said Sundar. "However, if there is a lawsuit for spreading false information, for example, it's unlikely that the portal will be named in the suit." Sundar said the flow of credibility did not go both ways.