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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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Journalistic autonomy is a prerequisite for the public function of journalism. Although most journalists in Western democracies indicate particularly low political or economic influences on their work, there is evidence that recipients assume that journalism is driven primarily by political and economic interests. These perceptual discrepancies can be problematic as perceived influences on journalistic work are known to reduce recipients' media trust. Hence, this study addresses the extent to which recipients perceive influences on journalistic work, how their perceptions differ from that of journalists, and which variables explain recipients' perceptions. A representative online survey of German recipients (n = 1000) and the representative sample of German journalists of the Worlds of Journalism Study (n = 775) demonstrate that recipients perceive stronger influences on journalistic work than journalists do, especially in regard to politics and economics. Furthermore, recipients who display higher levels of anti-elitism, selective exposure and media literacy assume stronger influences on journalistic work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite signs of declining press trust in many western countries, we know little about trends in press trust across the world. Based on comparative survey data from the World Values Survey (WVS) and European Values Study (EVS), this study looks into national levels of trust in the press and identifies factors that drive differences across societies and individuals as well as over time. Findings indicate that the widely noted decline in media trust is not a universal trend; it is true for only about half of the studied countries, with the United States experiencing the largest and most dramatic drop in trust in the press. Political trust has emerged as key factor for our understanding of trust in the press. We found robust evidence for what we called the trust nexus—the idea that trust in the news media is strongly linked to the way publics look at political institutions. The link between press trust and political trust was considerably stronger in politically polarized societies. Furthermore, our analysis indicates that the relation between press trust and political trust is becoming stronger over time. We reason that the strong connection between media and political trust may be driven by a growing public sentiment against elite groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]