"Public trust in institutions is a key prerequisite for effective crisis management. However, the rise of populism and misinformation in recent years made it increasingly difficult to maintain institutional trust. Despite this recognition, we still lack a systematic understanding of how exposure to
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misinformation and populist political orientation affect people’s trust in institutions. This paper fills this gap by adopting an original approach to trust, focusing on prospective trust rather than trust in the present, and by comparing four countries led by populist leaders during the pandemic – Brazil, Poland, Serbia, and the United States. The comparative design allows us to consider not only the role of individual-level factors (populist attitudes and misinformation exposure) but also the role of different approaches to the COVID-19 pandemic adopted in the four countries. The study utilizes data from a cross-sectional survey, carried out between November and December 2022 (N = 5000). Our findings show that populist attitudes are the most significant predictor of distrust in political institutions in all four countries. Believing in false information related to COVID-19, on the other hand, has a stronger impact on distrust in expert institutions – public health authorities, scientists, and medical professionals. The data also highlight the importance of local context and different approaches to handling the pandemic in the dynamics of trust. In Poland and Serbia, populist voters have more trust in both healthcare authorities as well as in political institutions; however, in Brazil and the United States, populist voters were more likely to distrust expert institutions." (Abstract)
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"The analyzed studies and surveys reflect some common trends concerning changing news habits in Europe. First, although the newspapers are still the main original sources for stories and provide institutional basis for high-quality journalism, they are not the primary gateways through which users ac
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cess the news. The main platform for media use remains the television, while the use of the internet and online social networks grows in the media habits of Europeans. The direct relationship between readers and publishers is weakening with the exception of Nordic countries, where users prefer to access news online directly. Second, comparative data on trust in the news media show the decline in general. Still, trust seems to be higher in traditional news media (radio on the first place and then TV), while lower in the online news media. A large number of users remain concerned about their ability to separate what is real and fake on the internet, and about the impact of disinformation on democracy generally. Third, a significant number of users are worn out about information overload while proportion of users avoiding the news steadily increases. It should be acknowledged at the same time, that there seem to be remarkable differences between countries as well as demographic categories (e.g. young and older, more and less educated) within these patterns." (Conclusion)
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"Recent media policy developments in Poland attract wide media coverage and the attention of governmental and non-governmental international and national organisations and bodies. This article aims at putting the debated regulatory changes into a relevant context through policy analysis. The normati
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ve concept against which the change will be tested, is media pluralism. Why? The concept of media pluralism is often viewed as an important condition for a well-functioning and democratic public sphere and media, while also incorporating political, economic and cultural value dimensions." (Page 197)
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"Adopting a truly global, theoretical and multidisciplinary perspective, Media Pluralism and Diversity intends to advance our understanding of media pluralism across the globe. It compares metrics that have been developed in different parts of the world to assess levels of, or threats to, media plur
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alism." (Publisher description)
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