Jan Müller 
Mechanisms of Trust [PDF ebook] 
News Media in Democratic and Authoritarian Regimes

Das Vertrauen in die Institutionen des demokratischen Staates sinkt. Die Nachrichtenmedien werden von dieser Entwicklung nicht verschont. In einer länderübergreifenden Analyse kommt Jan Müller zu dem überraschenden Ergebnis, dass zwar in westlichen Demokratien ein ausgeprägter Vertrauensverlust in die Medien zu verzeichnen ist, Nachrichtenmedien in autoritären Regimen dagegen von der Bevölkerung als wesentlich glaubwürdiger eingeschätzt werden. Dieser Befund erklärt sich mit dem sogenannten emanzipativen Wertewandel: Je höher die Bildungsressourcen eines Volkes sind, desto ausgeprägter ist das Maß der kritischen Distanzierung von staatlichen und politischen Institutionen.

Table of Content

Table of Content

1. Introduction9
1.1 Trust in Democratic Institutions12
1.2 Trust in the News Media21
1.3 Summary32

Part I: Theoretical Framework

2. Trust39
2.1 Defining Trust40
2.2 Reducing Complexity41
2.3 A Rational-Choice Notion of Trust45
2.4 Cues for Trustworthiness51
2.5 Trust and Modernity53
2.6 A Decrease in Familiarity58

3. Trust in the News Media62
3.1 Market-Oriented Theory of the Public Sphere64
3.2 Deliberative Theory of the Public Sphere71
3.3 Critical Theory of the Public Sphere84

4. Summary and Hypotheses91
4.1 Trust and the Market-Oriented Theory of the Public Sphere93
4.2 Trust and the Deliberative Theory of the Public Sphere95
4.3 Trust and the Critical Theory of the Public Sphere96

Part II: Analysis and Findings

5. Measuring Trust in the News Media101
5.1 Operationalizing Trust in the News Media102
5.2 Assessing Trust103
5.3 Is the Loss of Trust in Democratic Countries a Result of Survey Research Bias?110
5.4 Summary111

6. Trust in the News Media over Time and across Countries112
6.1 Trust in the Printed Press in Western Europe, Canada and the USA113
6.2 Trust in the Printed Press, Television and Radio in Western Europe117
6.3 Trust in the News Media in the USA123
6.4 Trust in the News Media in Countries with Democratic and Authoritarian Regimes127
6.5 Summary130

7. Trust and Emancipative Values134
7.1 Individual-Level Predictors of Trust in the News Media134
7.2 The Operationalization of Emancipative Value Change136
7.3 Emancipative Values and Trust in the News Media145
7.4 Trust in Commercial-, Public Service-, and User-Generated News Media153
7.5 Summary159

8. Trust and the Processing of Information160
8.1 The Elaborative Processing of Political Information163
8.2 Need-for-Cognition and Surveillance Gratification167
8.3 Trust and Diversity of the News Media174
8.4 Summary175

9. Consequences of Trust179
9.1 Political Knowledge and Political Action179
9.2 Knowledge of the European Union and the Frequency of Discussing Political Matters191
9.3 Summary194

10. Conclusions196
10.1 Summary of the Findings196
10.2 Dynamics of Trust in the News Media199
10.3 Trust and Institutions201
10.4 Public Sphere and Democracy203
10.5 The (Ir)relevance of Trust in the News Media203

References205
Index223

About the author

Jan Müller arbeitet am Zentrum für Demokratieforschung an der Universität Lüneburg.