Simple ways to build trust? Apparently NOT

Studies from the Media Insight Project, Trusting News and others show that audiences put their trust in the news depending on certain factors that are present within the organization. In order to uncover where news outlets are on target or lacking in these factors, Discovery Fellow Taylor Gion from the University of Missouri did some research with new sites across the country.

Here's one of the things she learned: Accuracy is the most important factor for 85 percent of adults when determining whether a news source is trustworthy, according to Media Insight Project. According to Gallup, 71 percent of adults say that transparency and fact-checking are extremely important factors in trusting a news site.

Knowing this, she searched heavily for accuracy statements. She searched under "About Us" tabs or scrolled through paragraphs of legal jargon in the Terms of Use or "Privacy policy" tabs hoping to find something about accuracy and how it was ensured. Only one of 63 news sites that she explored had an accuracy statement.

Read more from the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute