Explain Yourself: How Corrections and Epistemic Explanations Impact the Public’s Trust in Science Reporting

News media are a crucial source of secondary scientific information to the public, making it essential for informed societal and individual decision-making. Yet they are not without errors. To prevent the spread of inaccurate claims, many news organizations will publish corrections to earlier stories. How exactly this practice is perceived by the public, however, remains poorly understood. This study examines how corrections to science and technology news articles and epistemic explanations on the value of such corrections impact readers’ trust in the author, article, and journalism. Participants (N = 178) were randomly assigned to one of four groups varying in the presentation of corrections and epistemic explanations in a 2 × 2 factorial design. Results revealed that corrections reduced trust in the author’s perceived expertise. Epistemic explanations, however, improved trust in the article and author and mitigated some negative impacts of corrections on trust in journalism. Implications based on the results are discussed for journalists reporting on science and technology and science literacy.