Conference Agenda

A virtuous circle redux: The media and trustworthiness in the digital age

Professor Pippa Norris (Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University)

Should the news media be blamed for political cynicism? Part I describes the theoretical debate on this issue. This study seeks to examine empirical evidence concerning two arguments. The virtuous circle thesis predicts that at individual level, selection effects and media effects interact. Activists will be likely to pay attention to the news and public affairs. And knowledge gained from this process will strengthen informed judgments of political trustworthiness and lower barriers to civic engagement.

Moreover, secondly, at macro-level, the information environment matters. Open societies expand the capacity of critical citizens to identify trustworthy agencies accurately, by providing two-sided forms of political communications about the performance of the authorities. By contrast, closed societies restricting the free press are likely to foster credulous trust in strongman leaders, which is unwarranted by their performance.

Part II outlines the sources of survey cross-national and time-series data used to test these propositions from the European Social Survey in 39 countries. Part III presents the results. Part IV summarises the main conclusions and considers their broader implications.