Is Trust in Media Decreasing? Evidence from the World Values Survey

Abstract

Scholars and observers are increasingly concerned that trust in mainstream media is decreasing, which could undermine the democratic political process and make citizens more vulnerable to manipulation. Various surveys have documented dwindling media trust in the U.S. and other democracies, but so far this research has not established whether this decline is a global trend. I suggest a new, more robust approach using data from the World Values Survey to establish worldwide trends in attitudes. The resulting analysis shows there has been some decline in trust in media since the early 1990s, but there is no evidence of a decline among stable democracies. Trust in media has been decreasing instead in democratizing countries and other states that have undergone substantial political changes.

Keywords: media trust, democracy, democratization