| Abstract [eng] |
We are concerned in day by day life whether something we see, hear and read can be trusted. All around the globe we can find tens of public opinion surveys that outline public trust in media in comparison with state public institutions. However, the comparison with other institutions gives us too limited view and no particular reasons of public to trust in media. Examining reasons of public trust in media solves current problematic approach. The objective of this paper is to identify practical and theoretical reasons that affect public trust in media. Hypothesis, that public trust in media is mainly dependent on media’s content has been raised. Theoretical outline of this paper is supported by McQuail’s theoretical approach which distinguishes four different forces that influence the media content. According to this, media and its content fall under economical, social and political pressures. While analyzing media within latter framework, media and society relationship, media’s role in social life were examined. This gave a theoretical view of factors that influence media’s content from the social perspective. Economical and political factors that influence media’s content were analyzed using the same framework. When the theoretical analysis is done a public trust in media in Lithuania research was organized. In a survey of 149 respondents, relationship between trust in media and the relationship of attitudinal components was tested. Theoretical analysis supported by the results of the survey suggests that public trust in media is mainly dependent not only on media’s ability to satisfy social, political and information needs, but also on individual’s attitude towards the media content. In the end, paper can be used as a framework for more detailed analysis of public trust in media. To be exact, the practical analysis and the research on public’s social, political and information needs with the support of this paper will give a comprehensive approach to public trust in media. |
