Comparative Media Studies in the Digital Age| Does the Internet Erode Trust in Media? A Comparative Study of 46 Countries

Authors

  • Xinchuan Liu Peking University
  • Jia Lu Tsinghua University China

Keywords:

Internet, media trust, context, comparative study

Abstract

The crisis of trust in media often has been attributed to the development of the Internet. This article aimed to empirically examine the role of the Internet in eroding or strengthening trust in media. Taking an ecological perspective, this article studied how Internet development is shaping the informational context in which media trust is created. The data from the World Values Survey were adopted with 61,975 respondents in 46 countries. Multilevel analyses reported a couple of results. First, trust in media is increased in the Internet context, but is undermined by the individual use of the Internet. Second, the Internet creates a disembedding context in which the cultural approach to media trust is weakened, and the institutional approach is strengthened.

Author Biographies

Xinchuan Liu, Peking University

 Xinchuan Liu is an Assistant Professor in the School of Journalism and Communication at Peking University, Beijing, China, and an Erasmus Mundus Scholar at University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Dr. Liu is a research fellow in the Center for Crisis Management Research (sponsored by Beijing Planning Office of Philosophy & Social Science) and the director of Academic Department, National Institute of Strategic Communication, Peking University. His research interests include new media and communication theory, information communication technologies (ICTs) and social change in the context of China’s modernization and globalization.   

Jia Lu, Tsinghua University China

 Associate ProfessorTsinghua UniversityChina 

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Published

2020-11-04

Issue

Vol. 14 (2020)

Section

Special Sections

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