Objective   To explore influencing factors of trust in public media among Chinese citizens during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic for providing evidences to government′s risk communication and information behavior guidance to the public.

  Methods   With Wenjuanxing and WeChat platform, we carried out a voluntary anonymous online survey among 36 863 adult ( ≥ 18 years) internet users in 31 provincial level administrative regions across China using a self-designed questionnaire during August 3 – 13, 2020.

  Results  Among 19 132 participants (51.9% of the all responders) with valid information, the average trust scores in the scale with points of 1 – 5 (5 for the highest trust) were 4.6 ± 0.7 for opinions and suggestions on the epidemic from well known scholars such as doctors Zhong Nan-shan and Zhang Wen-hong, 4.5 ± 0.7 for central government media, 4.2 ± 0.8 for local government media, 4.1 ± 0.9 for World Health Organization, the United Nations and other international agencies, 4.1 ± 0.8 for medical and health care institutions, 4.0 ± 0.9 for schools/communities/public institutions and social organizations, 3.8 ± 1.0 for certificated expert We Media, 3.7 ± 1.0 for market-oriented media, 3.4 ± 1.1 for certificated non-professional We Media, 3.1 ± 1.1 for viewpoints in social media such as Weibo/WeChat/Tiktok, and 3.0 ± 1.0 for individual opinions from neighbors/friends/family members/classmates, respectively. Factor analysis revealed two common factors in the trust in public media – the trust in authoritative media and in non-authoritative media, together with a cumulative variance contribution rate of 57.363%. Hierarchical logistic regression analysis results estimated following dependent variable's rates of contribution to trust in authoritative and non-authoritative media: 0.3% and 0.8% for demographic characteristics, 11.1% and 17.8% for information needs and preferences, 9.1% and 6.5% for media use, 0.1% and 0.1% for personal health and experiences, and 0.8% and 0.1% for social interactions. The results of logistic regression analyses demonstrated that the participants with information demand, having preferences of information form or emotion, and paying attention to authoritative and non-authoritative media were more likely to have a higher trust in both authoritative and non-authoritative media; the participants engaged in manual work, with the family monthly income of more than 10 000 yuan RMB per capita, and having social interaction behaviors were more likely to have a higher trust in authoritative media; the participants with the family monthly income of more than 20 000 yuan RMB per capita were more likely to have a higher trust in non-authoritative media; while, the participants with a good self-rated health were more likely to have a low trust in authoritative media.

  Conclusion  For the public in China during the COVID-19 epidemic, main influencing factors of public trust in both authoritative and non-authoritative media include income, information demand, preference for information forms, information emotion preference, and use of authoritative media and non-authoritative media.