Online news portals continue to be one of the most popular sources for obtaining information, which means the credibility of website is dependent on the articles that are posted – or rather, the sources of the articles they post.

According to a new study by researchers at Penn State (published in Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly), those who access news articles from credible sources through online portals such as Yahoo News or Google News tend to view the portals themselves as much more credible.

Yet findings also showed that unfortunately for sources that were perceived as having low credibility, reading an article on a trusted portal was unlikely to make the reader view the source more favorably.

The recap of the study concluded by reiterating the point how it’s becoming increasingly more difficult for consumers to trace the sources of information – particularly in instances when an original article has changed hands multiple times, circulating through online portals, emails, social media outlets – the works.

Researcher S. Shyam Sundar summed it by saying, “With traditional media, it’s fairly clear who the source is, but in online media, it gets very murky because there are so many sources.”