Levels of credibility of news published on social media The Iraqi public "field study"

Abstract

Social media has become one of the important means for users to obtain news of all kinds at the present time, due to the spread of its use among large numbers of the public of different age groups and educational levels because of the features represented by these means that made them popular among their users. The news is one of the most important media materials that the public is keen to obtain due to the various gratifications it achieves for them, whether it is cognitive, psychological, cultural, intellectual and others. However, these news vary in their credibility according to their sources. It is true and accurate news. The transmission of incorrect news leads to a loss of confidence of users in the medium it transmits due to its lack of credibility, which may affect the level of their dependence on it in the future. The varying levels of credibility of news published by users on social networking sites is due to their varying cultural and intellectual levels, orientations and goals, their varying sense of social responsibility towards the information they publish, and the lack of ethical standards that must be adhered to in media work. Which leads to their publication and transmission of incorrect or inaccurate news, which affects the levels of credibility of news published on social media in general. And that this disparity in the levels of credibility of the news published on social networking sites led to the disparity in the public's dependence on them as a source of news and their distrust of these sites. The research works on studying the levels of credibility of news published on social networking sites among the Iraqi public, its importance to it, the extent of its dependence on it as a source for obtaining news of its various kinds, and the impact of its level of credibility on its reliance on it in obtaining news by conducting a field study on a sample of users of social networking sites.