Trust in Experts According to Media Consumption and Government Satisfaction in the United States and Finland




Koivula Aki; Marttila Eetu; Räsänen Pekka

James Hawdon, Donna Sedgwick, C. Cozette Comer, Pekka Räsänen

PublisherEmerald Publishing Limited

2024

Perceptions of a Pandemic: A Cross-Continental Comparison of Citizen Perceptions, Attitudes, and Behaviors During Covid-19

65

83

978-1-83608-625-3

978-1-83608-624-6

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83608-624-620241005

https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83608-624-620241005



This chapter examines the relationship between media consumption during COVID-19 and its effect on trust in experts. Successful crisis management requires risk assessment and rapid decisions, and decision-making in the crisis is often based on multidimensional and conflicting information, which highlights the importance of trust. Here, the aim is to examine how daily media consumption is associated with trust in experts and satisfaction with government response during the pandemic. Media consumption was defined by how many different media platforms respondents used daily, grouped into three broad categories: (1) broadcast media, including television and radio; (2) journalistic media, including newspapers and periodicals; and (3) social media, including social network sites and discussion forums. The results of the analyses show that trust in experts strengthened as the crisis progressed, but satisfaction with the government declined. Omnivorous media consumption – those who consumed several different forms of media – increased trust in experts as well as satisfaction with the government. Particularly, one-sided and social media-based media consumption was related to declined trust. That is, those who used only one form of media and those who relied heavily on social media alone expressed lower levels of trust in experts. The mediation analysis showed that the association between media consumption and government satisfaction was partly indirect through trust in experts. Overall, the study reinforces the importance of media as a moderator of messages during crisis management.



Last updated on 2025-04-02 at 09:55