"What are root causes of trust and distrust in media in different political contexts? How is media use shifted from one source to another with the change of political culture? What factors shape media perception across cultures and across political regimes? Are there commonalities or are they differ
...
ent? Given the common instrumentalization of media in conflict environments and the growing ubiquity of political media capture, we may also ask, whether unfettered trust in media is normatively desirable under any circumstances. Put differently: Isn’t distrust a healthy response to propaganda and media manipulation? How is the concept of media literacy connected to trust or media scepticism? Do we need to be more sceptical rather than gullible? Against the backdrop of these (and other) questions, the Forum Media and Development (fome) dedicated its 2021 annual symposium to the question of trust in media, namely the question how media perception is shaped differently by different political contexts and media structures across the globe. Fome is the German platform for international media development initiatives (fome.info), a network that includes 24 organizations working towards strengthening free and independent media in developing and transitioning countries. The 2021 fome-symposium ran under the heading “Believe it or Not! Enquiries about TRUST in media (assistance)” and was organized by MiCT. The proceedings of the conference can be found online at https://fome.info/symposium-2021-documentation. Finally, this themed issue of the Global Media Journal – German Edition is curated as an extension of the conference and an effort to follow up upon some of the most pressing questions deriving from it." (Editorial)
more
"To illustrate the dynamics of the digital information ecosystem and how disinformation is seeded within this environment, Rappler explored cascades around the following themes: war on drugs, attacks against the press, and messaging around Martial Law and authoritarian rule. The themes were selected
...
based on prevailing issues that have confronted the Philippines and the Duterte administration over the past 6 years. These are findings of the study specific to the Philippine context: Already addicted to social media, Filipinos became more deeply immersed in the internet due to the pandemic; [...] At least 1 in every 3 Filipino internet users is new to digital, is potentially unfamiliar with how it works, and vulnerable to disinformation and online manipulation techniques [...] News organizations are still among the most followed information sources online. But they are increasingly drowned in social media noise [...] Trustworthiness is the primary consideration in following groups, pages, and channels on social media. But entertainment value and agreeableness are also major considerations, making audiences vulnerable to sources that deceptively use celebrity content to build online following [...] Majority (78%) of survey respondents say they can distinguish between real news and “fake news,” but focus group discussions (FGDs) reveal that some believed previously debunked claims [...] There are similarities between disinformation in the Philippines and the “Firehose of Falsehood” Russian propaganda model ..." (Executive summary, pages 7-12)
more
"The reach of the media outlets researched in this study extends above all to a population with greater purchasing power and educational attainment, who are looking for serious, investigative, quality journalism. This audience likes to feel part of the media outlet, collaborate with it, and have dir
...
ect contact with its journalists. They specifically like to participate in dialogue and debates through in-person events and webinars, suggest topics for investigation, receive information by means of personalised newsletters, and have access to podcasts, videos and e-books. Access to this type of service and product may even be a reason to begin lending economic support to a media outlet. The challenge is to reach more and new audiences, of greater diversity and different segments, to whom their current investigations with long, erudite texts do not currently appeal, because they are instead looking for more popular news items or more entertaining formats (such as the videos preferred by the younger population." (Lessons learned, página 18-19)
more
"This research analysis aims to assess perceptions of media coverage of social cohesion in Ninewah and understand how content is consumed and assessed by audiences in the province. What this report has demonstrated is that while there is a distrust of the media at a national level, local media are p
...
laying a fundamental role in providing citizens with information and news about topics that are important and relevant to reconciliation and rebuilding communities in post-IS Ninewah. Social media and activist accounts are also playing a significant role in the media information ecosystem in Ninewah. However, the political environment in Iraq is having a huge impact on both media coverage and analysis of key topics as well as on audiences’ perceptions of media coverage of such topics. There is still a clear need for increased content and a focus on topics that will support peace-building and social cohesion as the province of Ninewah recovers from the events of its recent past. The report concludes that audiences across different groups are fairly coherent and in agreement that the media should be playing a larger role in covering important topics related to diversity and religious difference in particular. They felt that the media had painted a false picture of Ninewah as a sectarian society and should be providing more positive and inclusive programming in order to combat the challenges that they faced as a society. Levels of awareness of the positive role that the media could play were high although trust in the media in general was low. This view was tempered by reactions to inaccurate portrayals of life in Ninewah post-IS and audiences also wanted to see the realities of their life in media content. Violent content and images were rejected however which is a significant point to demonstrate the impact and trauma incurred as a result of the occupation by IS." (Conclusions, page 28)
more
"A significant number of the surveyed citizens consider the media in Serbia under the control of political groups at both ends of the spectrum. At the same time, many of the surveyed citizens think that the media is free to collect and publish information on all the relevant issues. These findings r
...
eflect the media reality in Serbia: after twenty years of reforms, the country has managed to create a system in which the freedom of the media implies (only) that our media freely report on issues relevant to the option whose interests they represent. Both the media workers in the focus group and the surveyed citizens agree that propaganda and hatred are ubiquitous in the media. The media instrumentalizes hatred based on gender, national and other stereotypes in order to realize the particular interests of the groups to which they are loyal for ideological or financial reasons. But as the media workers warn, the media is also abusing the hatred rooted in society to increase circulation, viewership, or reach, and again, in the end, to make a profit. The position of women journalists in Serbia is especially difficult. As many as 95% of the surveyed citizens agree that women journalists are exposed to attacks, threats, insults and harassment because they do their job well. The journalists and editors in the focus group do not see gender prejudices and stereotypes as a cause of attacks but rather as a tool to discredit female journalists. Not their work—because that is difficult to discredit—but rather female journalists personally, where attacks are dominated by discourse strategies stemming from classic misogyny." (Conclusion, page 25)
more
"Through a combination of qualitative in-depth interviews with alternative media outlets, quantitative audience surveys involving over 1500 respondents, and focus-group discussions with women and youth civil society actors, this media and information landscape (MILA) evaluates the level of trust tow
...
ards different information sources and explores the information flow, dynamics, gaps, and needs experienced by vulnerable groups in marginalized areas. The findings detail gaps between alternative media outlets’ objectives and its organizational structure or capacity needed to achieve its vision, legal and regulatory constraints that limit the accurate sharing of information with audiences, and the detrimental impact of Lebanon’s economic hardships on media financing. The report thus analyzes the information needs of women and youth in marginalized areas, explores linkages between alternative media outlets and civil society actors, and offers recommendations to strengthen media outlet’s capacity to delivery quality news and scale up their reach." (Publisher description)
more
"This Information Ecosystem Assessment (IEA) aims to study the information environment in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) of the Philippines during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Its main objective is to explore the dynamics of information in the region. The first section
...
of the report discusses the media landscape in BARMM and its implication on the supply of information in the region during the pandemic. The second section covers the information demands and experiences of communities, particularly those from vulnerable groups such as internally displaced persons (IDP) and remote populations. It also tackles the access to as well as the use and influence of information, along with identifying its trusted sources for the locals. The third section explains the dynamics between the information supply and demand from the community along with their effects on trust, influence, and behaviors. The fourth section outlines the humanitarian response to COVID-19 and the challenges faced by different organizations in their efforts to inform the public at large." (Executive summary)
more
"Building trust in public health authorities and epidemic response takes time and is an ongoing process. However, in the short term, mistrust can be mitigated by responding in contextually appropriate ways through meaningful community engagement: 1. Use social science to understand the socio-economi
...
c, political and historical context [...] 2. Adapt communications to respond to the concerns of different groupsof people, using trusted sources and platforms [...] 3. Establish dialogue and create feedback systems [...] 4. Include diverse groups and listen with an open mind [...] 5. Be transparent, consistent and open, particularly about uncertainty, controversy and mistakes [...] 6. Offer compelling narratives that build a sense of capability and motivation to act." (Pages 3-4)
more
"In der siebten Befragungswelle der Mainzer Langzeitstudie wurde ein deutlich gestiegenes Vertrauen in die Medien festgestellt. Den Medien scheint es 2020 gelungen zu sein, als Orientierungspunkt zu dienen und die Menschen mit Informationen zu versorgen. Auch der in den Vorjahren zu beobachtende Med
...
ienzynismus und die Zustimmung zu Verschwörungserzählungen sind zurückgegangen. Das größte Vertrauen genießen die Angebote des öffentlichrechtlichen Rundfunks, die von 70 Prozent als vertrauenswürdig beurteilt werden. Nachrichten aus rein internetbasierten Quellen wird deutlich weniger Vertrauen entgegengebracht." (Seite 152)
more
"This report examines how people in Brazil, India, the UK, and the US view news media in their countries, the factors they use when determining whether sources are trustworthy, and what ‘trust in news’ ultimately means to them [...] While we note throughout the report areas of difference between
...
the four countries, such as the role played by particular forms of news or individual media figures, mainly we focus on the similarities we found, which were often striking. In most cases, study participants tended to fall back on impressions of brand quality that many said were rooted in how familiar they were with a given source and its reputation established over time based on past use, perceived partisanship, or word-of-mouth. Although many spoke about the importance of accuracy and impartiality in their assessments of trust – with individual journalists typically playing a lesser or even negative role – such terms often meant different things to different people. While a minority raised concerns about representation and whether news aligned with their lived experiences, others focused on perceived political or commercial biases or their sense that all news sources were irretrievably beholden to elite agendas." (Conclusion, page 40)
more
"Inwiefern hat sich Journalismus in der heutigen demokratischen Gesellschaft als Vertrauensinstanz bewährt? Was zeichnet speziell das Vertrauen in Journalismus aus, oder wodurch wird es beeinträchtigt? Die in dieser Studie vorgelegten Antworten verweisen darauf, dass Vertrauen in den Journalismus
...
an seine professionelle Qualität gekoppelt ist. Diese lässt sich zu einem erheblichen Teil beschreiben als Grad der ethischen Qualität; sie umfasst ein verantwortungsorientiertes Publizieren ebenso wie eine aufmerksame Beziehung zum Publikum. Ethische Kompetenz ist der gemeinsame Schlüssel – für den Journalismus ebenso wie für sein Publikum. Geleitet von dieser Grundthese hält die Autorin ein detailliertes Plädoyer für ethisches Empowerment von Journalist_innen und Bürger_innen als Grundlage des Vertrauens in die Medien. Auch mit Blick auf die heutige „plattformisierte Öffentlichkeit“ sieht die Autorin die Notwendigkeit einer entsprechenden Weiterentwicklung der institutionellen Rahmenbedingungen der Mediengesellschaft, die sich an einem ethischen Kompass ausrichten müssen." (Umschlagrücken)
more
"This report contains a range of findings about news audiences in each of the four countries [Brazil, India, United Kingdom, United States], focusing on audiences overall as well as different segments of the public categorised according to their degree of trust towards news brands in their country.
...
We summarise several of the key results of our analysis here: People are more trusting of news they themselves use, including on social media, but less trusting of news they don’t use, especially news found on digital platforms [...] Many hold highly negative views about basic journalistic practices [...] The least trusting towards news tend to be older, less educated, less interested in politics, and less connected to urban centres [...] The least trusting pay less attention to and are more indifferent towards specific characteristics about how journalism is practised [...] Experience interacting with journalists is rare and familiarity with basic concepts concerning how news works is often low [...] Gaps in trust in news align with deficits in social and interpersonal trust as well as dissatisfaction with democracy." (Summary of key findings, page 8)
more
"Vertrauenskrisen haben Konjunktur: Ob Politik, Wissenschaft oder Journalismus - kein gesellschaftliches Teilsystem bleibt von öffentlichen Misstrauensbekundungen verschont. Doch was genau meint der schillernde Begriff »Systemvertrauen« und welche Konsequenzen hat ein Mangel desselben? Malte G. S
...
chmidt folgt diesen Fragen aus einer gesellschaftstheoretischen Perspektive. Er zeigt die sozialintegrative Bedeutung des Journalismus auf und prüft, inwieweit dieser seine Rolle als Vertrauensvermittler im neoliberalen Kapitalismus erfüllen kann. Ein ökonomisierter Journalismus - so seine These - bedingt gesellschaftliche Integrationsstörungen, die dann in Form von Autoritarismus auf ihn zurückfallen." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
more
"Internews’ Global Tech and Europe & Eurasia teams conducted an extensive information ecosystem assessment (IEA) study in Georgia with a team of local researchers and experts. This IEA examines every region in Georgia, including minority language communities, and adopts a specific focus on social
...
media and digital channels of communications in the analysis. The data collected in the study came from a national survey of 1310 individuals, 60 in-depth interviews and eight focus groups, as well as from ethnographic observations and the content analysis of over 12,000 social media posts. Findings in the report are published in three parts: Context, Infrastructure, Regulation, and Revenue; Production, Distribution, and Consumption of Information; Engagement, Trust and Behavior." (https://internews.org)
more
"This report is the culmination of an in-depth investigation aimed at better defining the causes and challenges of information disorder, and offering a viable framework for action [...] The Aspen Institute’s Commission on Information Disorder invited voices from across our society to help build up
...
on our understanding of the issues and our approach to recommendations. This included numerous examples of research, original ideas, draft legislation, and critical analysis from academics, policymakers, and activists—all leveraging deep, real-world experience while striving to meet the scale of the challenge. Each recommendation that follows represents a discrete, actionable idea. Though not all of the recommendations are mutually dependent, they should be considered together—they reinforce and build off one another. For instance, recommendations calling for access and disclosure support those that impose greater accountability for bad actors and, conversely, create a check on overreach. Our recommendations cover multiple areas: technology, society, government, and media. It is also important to note that, with imperfect information, we make imperfect decisions. Due to the opacity of tech and media platforms—how they operate and how they optimize their products—we do not have sufficient understanding of all the coordinated levers that could reduce societal harms while still allowing for innovation, and both individual and community benefit." (Letter from the co-chairs, page 2)
more