PMCb1118 Trust in media

Faculty of Social Studies
Spring 2025

The course is not taught in Spring 2025

Extent and Intensity
1/1/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Lukáš Slavík (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. et Mgr. Alena Macková, Ph.D.
Department of Media Studies and Journalism – Faculty of Social Studies
Contact Person: doc. Mgr. et Mgr. Vlastimil Havlík, Ph.D.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is offered to students of any study field.
Course objectives
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: 1) to introduce the key theories and concepts related to trust and distrust in media and media contents; 2) to address recent changes in media (and political) practices related to trust; 3) to learn how to access, read, present and discuss recent research on trust in media and available data.
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
Syllabus
  • Content Literature review - how to read research papers
  • Concept of trust and its dimensions
  • Trust and ontological security
  • Social trust and distrust
  • Trust in media and values
  • Measuring and examining trust
  • Measures of trust in media and trust in journalists
  • Distrust in media
  • Trust in professional and alternative media
  • Trust and politics
  • Trust in media, political attitudes and political participation
  • Political polarization and media
  • Reception of news and selective exposure
  • Trust and disinformation
  • Teaching methods: seminar, class discussion, reading
Literature
  • Knobloch‐Westerwick, S., et al. (2015). Political online information searching in Germany and the United States: confirmation bias, source credibility, and attitude impacts. Journal of Communication, 65(3), 489-511.
  • 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.
  • Skovsgaard, M., Shehata A., & Strömbäck, J. (2016). Opportunity Structures for Selective Exposure. Investigating Selective Exposure and Learning in Swedish Election Campaigns Using Panel Survey Data. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 21(4), 52
  • Tsfati, Y., & Ariely, G. (2014). Individual and contextual correlates of trust in media across 44 countries. Communication Research, 41(6), 760-782.
  • Kohring, M., & Matthes, J. 2007. Trust in news media: Development and validation of a multidimensional scale. Communication research, 34(2), 231-252.
  • Macek, J., Macková, A., Pavlopoulos, V., Kalmus, V., Elavsky, C. M., & Šerek, J. (2018). Trust in alternative and professional media: The case of the youth news audiences in three European countries. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 15(3), 3
  • Fletcher, R., Park, S. (2017). The Impact of Trust in the News Media on Online News Consumption and Participation. Digital Journalism 10 (5): 1281-1299.
Teaching methods
seminar, class discussion, reading
Assessment methods
During the semester, the student submits 8 reviews from literature assigned to specific seminars The student presents a paper (with focus on available secondary data) on a given topic (10-15 minutes)
Language of instruction
English
Further Comments
The course is taught annually.
The course is taught: every week.
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