{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,17]],"date-time":"2026-02-17T04:47:18Z","timestamp":1771303638827,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":44,"publisher":"Hogrefe Publishing Group","issue":"3","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Journal of Media Psychology"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2021,7]]},"abstract":"<jats:p> Abstract. Comments sections under news articles have become popular spaces for audience members to oppose the mainstream media\u2019s perspective on political issues by expressing alternative views. This kind of challenge to mainstream discourses is a necessary element of proper deliberation. However, due to heuristic information processing and the public concern about disinformation online, readers of comments sections may be inherently skeptical about user comments that counter the views of mainstream media. Consequently, commenters with alternative views may participate in discussions from a position of disadvantage because their contributions are scrutinized particularly critically. Nevertheless, this effect has hitherto not been empirically established. To address this gap, a multifactorial, between-subjects experimental study ( N\u00a0=\u00a0166) was conducted that investigated how participants assess the credibility and argument quality of media-dissonant user comments relative to media-congruent user comments. The findings revealed that media-dissonant user comments are, indeed, disadvantaged in online discussions, as they are assessed as less credible and more poorly argued than media-congruent user comments. Moreover, the findings showed that the higher the participants\u2019 level of media trust, the worse the assessment of media-dissonant user comments relative to media-congruent user comments. Normative implications and avenues for future research are discussed. <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1027\/1864-1105\/a000287","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,15]],"date-time":"2020-12-15T11:55:10Z","timestamp":1608033310000},"page":"113-124","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Assessments of User Comments With \u201cAlternative Views\u201d \t\t\t\t\tas a Function of Media Trust"],"prefix":"10.1027","volume":"33","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0729-9749","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Marlene","family":"Kunst","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Social and Political Sciences, Freie \t\t\t\t\tUniversit\u00e4t Berlin\/Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society, \t\t\t\t\t\tGermany"}]}],"member":"101","reference":[{"key":"c1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1077699015606057"},{"key":"c2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5771\/2192-4007-2018-2-256"},{"key":"c3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.18637\/jss.v067.i01"},{"key":"c4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jpubeco.2019.104123"},{"key":"c5","unstructured":"Chaiken,\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tS. \t\t\t\t\t\t(1987). The heuristic model of \t\t\t\t\t\tpersuasion. In M. P. Zanna, J.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tM. Olsen, & \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tC. P. Herman \t\t\t\t\t\t(Eds.), Social influence: The \t\t\t\t\t\t\tOntario symposium (Vol. 5, pp. \t\t\t\t\t\t3\u201339). Lawrence \t\t\t\t\t\tErlbaum."},{"key":"c6","unstructured":"Chen,\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tS. & \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tChaiken,\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tS. \t\t\t\t\t\t(1999). The heuristic-systematic model in its \t\t\t\t\t\tbroader context. In S. Chaiken, & \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tY. Trope \t\t\t\t\t\t(Eds.), Dual-process theories in \t\t\t\t\t\t\tsocial psychology (pp. \t\t\t\t\t\t73\u201396). Guilford \t\t\t\t\t\tPress."},{"key":"c7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1464884915579332"},{"key":"c8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Debatin,\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tB. \t\t\t\t\t\t(2008). The Internet as a new platform for \t\t\t\t\t\texpressing opinions and as a new public sphere. In \t\t\t\t\t\tW. Donsbach, & \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tM. W. Traugott \t\t\t\t\t\t(Eds.), The SAGE handbook of \t\t\t\t\t\t\tpublic opinion research (pp. \t\t\t\t\t\t64\u201372). \t\t\t\t\t\tSAGE.","DOI":"10.4135\/9781848607910.n7"},{"key":"c9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1037\/0022-3514.71.1.5"},{"key":"c10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/21670811.2017.1279979"},{"key":"c11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/1461670X.2018.1556320"},{"key":"c12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/107769908606300301"},{"key":"c13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/2041-210X.12504"},{"key":"c14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Guttman,\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tN. \t\t\t\t\t\t(2008). Deliberative discourse. \t\t\t\t\tIn W. Donsbach \t\t\t\t\t\t(Ed.), The international \t\t\t\t\t\t\tencyclopedia of communication (pp. \t\t\t\t\t\t1\u20136). https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/9781405186407.wbiecd069","DOI":"10.1002\/9781405186407.wbiecd069"},{"key":"c15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1468-2958.2007.00290.x"},{"key":"c16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ipm.2007.10.001"},{"key":"c17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4324\/9780429454691"},{"key":"c18","first-page":"1661","volume":"11","author":"Kaiser J.","year":"2017","journal-title":"International Journal of Communication"},{"key":"c19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0093650206298071"},{"key":"c20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1037\/0033-2909.108.3.480"},{"key":"c21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/poq\/nfx018"},{"key":"c22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1083-6101.2012.01597.x"},{"key":"c23","unstructured":"McNair,\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tB. \t\t\t\t\t\t(2013). Trust, truth and objectivity: Sustaining \t\t\t\t\t\tquality journalism in the era of the content-generating \t\t\t\t\tuser. In C. Peters, & \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tM. J. Broersma \t\t\t\t\t\t(Eds.), Rethinking journalism: \t\t\t\t\t\t\tTrust and participation in a transformed news \t\t\t\t\t\tlandscape (pp. \t\t\t\t\t75\u201388). \t\t\t\t\t\tRoutledge."},{"key":"c24","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.pragma.2013.07.012"},{"key":"c25","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1460-2466.2010.01488.x"},{"key":"c26","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/107769908806500301"},{"key":"c27","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/1461670X.2020.1724181"},{"key":"c28","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1077699019886586"},{"key":"c29","volume-title":"The dynamics of persuasion: Communication and attitudes in the twenty-first century","author":"Perloff R. M.","year":"2010","edition":"6"},{"key":"c30","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0065-2601(08)60214-2"},{"key":"c31","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/19312458.2018.1506021"},{"key":"c32","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/1461670X.2016.1161497"},{"key":"c33","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jmp.2012.08.001"},{"key":"c34","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5771\/1615-634X-2018-3-283"},{"key":"c35","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5771\/1615-634x-2000-1-63"},{"key":"c36","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/107769909607300415"},{"key":"c37","volume-title":"News commenters and news comment readers. Engaging News Project","author":"Stroud N. J.","year":"2016"},{"key":"c38","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1540-5907.2006.00214.x"},{"key":"c39","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/jcom.12156"},{"key":"c40","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0093650203253371"},{"key":"c41","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"van Dalen,\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tA. \t\t\t\t\t\t(2019). Journalism, trust, and \t\t\t\t\t\tcredibility. In K. Wahl-Jorgensen, & \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tT. Hanitzsch \t\t\t\t\t\t(Eds.), ICA handbook series. The \t\t\t\t\t\t\thandbook of journalism studies (2nd \t\t\t\t\t\ted., pp. 356\u2013371). \t\t\t\t\t\tRoutledge. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.4324\/9781315167497-23","DOI":"10.4324\/9781315167497-23"},{"key":"c42","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1461444817742905"},{"key":"c43","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/00913367.1996.10673493"},{"key":"c44","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/1369118X.2017.1324505"}],"container-title":["Journal of Media Psychology"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/econtent.hogrefe.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1027\/1864-1105\/a000287","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2023,12,21]],"date-time":"2023-12-21T10:43:19Z","timestamp":1703155399000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/econtent.hogrefe.com\/doi\/10.1027\/1864-1105\/a000287"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2021,7]]},"references-count":44,"journal-issue":{"issue":"3","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2021,7]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1027\/1864-1105\/a000287"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1027\/1864-1105\/a000287","relation":{},"ISSN":["1864-1105","2151-2388"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1864-1105","type":"print"},{"value":"2151-2388","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2021,7]]}}}