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Background  In the COVID-19 pandemic, rumors travel far faster than the outbreak itself. The current study aimed to evaluate the factors affecting the attitudes of individuals towards the rumors-producing media in Iran.    Methods  An online cross-sectional survey was conducted in Iran in March 2020 on the source of information and rumors, along with the perception of individuals regarding the reasons for rumors propagation during the COVID-19 pandemic.    Results  Results showed that the majority of the participants (59.3%) believed that social media were the main source of rumors. The lack of a reliable and formal news resource was also considered the most common cause of rumoring by the participants (63.6%). An evaluation was carried out to identify the main source of misinformation and rumors. Results showed that Retired participants considered foreign media ( P  < 0.001) as the main resource. The middle-income level participants believed that social media ( P  < 0.001) were the main source. In this regard, the highly educated participants (P < 0.001), government employees, and middle-income individuals ( P  = 0.008) believed that national media produced rumors.    Conclusion  Although findings were achieved during the first peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the authorities immediately introduced the national media as a reliable news resource, which allowed both media and its journalists to reduce the gap between themselves and the public sphere. It was suggested that social networks and foreign media be more accountable in pandemics.    Supplementary Information  The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-021-12254-x.

Public sphere attitudes towards the rumor sources of the COVID-19 pandemic: evidence from community perceptions in Iran