Media trust “until death”? Insights into critical media users’ attitudes, their origins and consequences, and mistrust patterns

Abstract

Media trust is under threat in many countries, and mistrust in mainstream media and discussions about “fake news” have increased in recent years. Critical attitudes toward the media can be a potential danger for society; therefore, it is crucial to know more about critical media users’ attitudes, their origins and consequences, and mistrust patterns. Despite recent research focusing on mistrust, users’ perspectives have been rather neglected. It is unclear how they describe their critical attitudes and what origins and consequences of those attitudes they perceive. In this study, qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with 17 German media users who were critical of the media. The results provide insights into the intensity of users’ critical attitudes and mistrust patterns, which are more or less intense and directed toward different media objects. Furthermore, the researcher investigated the origins of users’ critical attitudes – above all, users named their socialization and major global events, such as wars or terrorist attacks, as the origins of their critical attitudes. The results also demonstrated the sometimes severe consequences critical attitudes have for media users, especially regarding their informational and communicational behavior and their relationships with other people.