Explaining media trust among journalists and recipients: Different experiences, different predictors?

Abstract

Media trust has been studied particularly from the audience perspective so far, while journalists’ trust has been neglected. Therefore, based on representative survey data of journalists and recipients in Germany, we investigated media trust levels of both groups, and we examined political factors driving their trust. Our findings suggest that journalists indicate higher trust levels than recipients and their levels of political trust and political satisfaction increase it. In comparison, social and political trust, along with perceived political influences on journalistic work, are decisive for the level of media trust among recipients.