PMCb1118 Trust in media

Faculty of Social Studies
Autumn 2026
Extent and Intensity
1/1/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Lukáš Slavík (lecturer)
Mgr. Klára Smejkal, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. Klára Smejkal, Ph.D.
Department of Media Studies and Journalism – Faculty of Social Studies
Contact Person: Mgr. Lenka Hrbková, Ph.D.
Supplier department: Department of Media Studies and Journalism – Faculty of Social Studies
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is offered to students of any study field.
Abstract
An extensive fragmentation and diversification of the current media environment and the growing selectivity of news audiences inevitably erode the informational monopoly of professional news media and challenges patterns of trust in media. As we face an obvious decrease in trust in traditional media (as well as in political institutions), the aim of the course is: to introduce students to the concept of trust, especially in media and communication studies, but necessarily beyond this field. Students will be introduced to the role of trust in society, especially in the functioning of the media world. However, since the history of this concept and phenomenon in media and communication studies is relatively recent, students will also be introduced to the process by which this concept has become established in media and communication studies, which involves defining trust in relation to related concepts and phenomena such as distrust, mistrust and scepticism, credibility, faith, etc. During the course, students will become familiar with the current state of research. Students will acquire knowledge in a practical way.
Learning outcomes
After completing the course, the student will:
know issues, theories and concepts related to trust and distrust in media,
know recent state of research on trust in media,
present and discuss the issue of trust in media, recent research, applied methods and results
Key topics
Content 1) Introductory class 2) Media, Democracy & Current Political Challenges 3) Where Trust Comes From: Basic Theories and Models of Trust 4) Credibility: Doors Closed for Trust in Media Studies 5) Reeding Week - No lecture 6) Traces of Trust in Media Studies: Research, Measurement, Conceptualization 7) Emerging Order in Organized Chaos of Media Studies: Trust, Distrust and Related Concepts 8) Personalization of media and news and trust 9) Innovative ways of handling trust in media 10) Trust in media and populism 11) The impact of trust and distrust in the media on society and democracy 12) Final presentations 13) Final presentations Teaching methods: seminar, class discussion, reading
Study resources and literature
  • McKnight, D. H., & Chervany, N. L. (2001). Trust and distrust definitions: One bite at a time. In Trust in Cyber-societies (pp. 27-54). Springer.
  • Tsfati, Y., Cappella, J. N. (2005). Why do people watch news they do not trust? The need for cognition as a moderator in the association between news media skepticism and exposure. Media Psychology, 7, 251–271.
  • Tsfati, Y., & Ariely, G. (2014). Individual and contextual correlates of trust in media across 44 countries. Communication Research, 41(6), 760-782.
  • Norris, P., & Inglehart, R. (2019). The Cultural Backlash Theory. In Cultural Backlash: Trump, Brexit, and Authoritarian Populism (pp. 32–64). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Fisher, C. (2018). What Is Meant By ‘Trust’ In News Media? In K. Otto & A. Köhler (Eds.), Trust in Media and Journalism (pp. 19– 38). Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-20765-6_2
  • Engelke, K. M., Hase, V., & Wintterlin, F. (2019). On measuring trust and distrust in journalism: Reflection of the status quo and suggestions for the road ahead. Journal of Trust Research, 9(1), 66–86. https://doi.org/10.1080/21515581.2019.1588741
  • Kohring, M., & Matthes, J. 2007. Trust in news media: Development and validation of a multidimensional scale. Communication research, 34(2), 231-252.
Approaches, practices, and methods used in teaching
seminar, class discussion, reading
Method of verifying learning outcomes and course completion requirements
During the semester, the student will prepare and present a country case study to describe the level of trust in the media in that country and what causes it. The student will be required to submit a academic argumentative essay on the phenomenon of trust.
Language of instruction
English
Further Comments
The course is taught annually.
The course is taught every week.
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2025.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2026, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/fss/autumn2026/PMCb1118