Unpacking Public Animosity Toward Professional Journalism: A Qualitative Analysis of the Differences Between Media Distrust and Cynicism
Abstract
Amidst a widely discussed crisis in audience-media relations, this study argues for the importance of a more nuanced understanding of audience animosity toward professional journalism. Based on 20 in-depth interviews with diverse news audiences in Serbia, we explored how media distrust and cynicism can be empirically distinguished. While both perceptions entail negative expectations from journalism, our findings indicate that they diverge with respect to interviewees’ views on journalistic ideals and integrity, differentiation between media actors, and receptivity to journalistic performance. In the interviews, cynicism emerged as the deterministic and process-oriented perception that journalism serves no other purposes than financial profit and audience manipulation. In contrast, distrust was a more nuanced, probing, and outcome-oriented perception that may be open to correction in the presence of counter-evidence. These findings can help media researchers and educators to better diag...nose and address negative media perceptions.
Keywords:
media cynicism / media distrust / media perceptions / audience-media relationshipsSource:
Journalism, 2022, 1-19Publisher:
- Sage
Collections
Institution/Community
IFDTTY - JOUR AU - Markov, Čedomir AU - Min, Young PY - 2022 UR - http://rifdt.instifdt.bg.ac.rs/123456789/2825 AB - Amidst a widely discussed crisis in audience-media relations, this study argues for the importance of a more nuanced understanding of audience animosity toward professional journalism. Based on 20 in-depth interviews with diverse news audiences in Serbia, we explored how media distrust and cynicism can be empirically distinguished. While both perceptions entail negative expectations from journalism, our findings indicate that they diverge with respect to interviewees’ views on journalistic ideals and integrity, differentiation between media actors, and receptivity to journalistic performance. In the interviews, cynicism emerged as the deterministic and process-oriented perception that journalism serves no other purposes than financial profit and audience manipulation. In contrast, distrust was a more nuanced, probing, and outcome-oriented perception that may be open to correction in the presence of counter-evidence. These findings can help media researchers and educators to better diagnose and address negative media perceptions. PB - Sage T2 - Journalism T1 - Unpacking Public Animosity Toward Professional Journalism: A Qualitative Analysis of the Differences Between Media Distrust and Cynicism SP - 1 EP - 19 DO - 10.1177/14648849221122064 ER -
@article{ author = "Markov, Čedomir and Min, Young", year = "2022", abstract = "Amidst a widely discussed crisis in audience-media relations, this study argues for the importance of a more nuanced understanding of audience animosity toward professional journalism. Based on 20 in-depth interviews with diverse news audiences in Serbia, we explored how media distrust and cynicism can be empirically distinguished. While both perceptions entail negative expectations from journalism, our findings indicate that they diverge with respect to interviewees’ views on journalistic ideals and integrity, differentiation between media actors, and receptivity to journalistic performance. In the interviews, cynicism emerged as the deterministic and process-oriented perception that journalism serves no other purposes than financial profit and audience manipulation. In contrast, distrust was a more nuanced, probing, and outcome-oriented perception that may be open to correction in the presence of counter-evidence. These findings can help media researchers and educators to better diagnose and address negative media perceptions.", publisher = "Sage", journal = "Journalism", title = "Unpacking Public Animosity Toward Professional Journalism: A Qualitative Analysis of the Differences Between Media Distrust and Cynicism", pages = "1-19", doi = "10.1177/14648849221122064" }
Markov, Č.,& Min, Y.. (2022). Unpacking Public Animosity Toward Professional Journalism: A Qualitative Analysis of the Differences Between Media Distrust and Cynicism. in Journalism Sage., 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1177/14648849221122064
Markov Č, Min Y. Unpacking Public Animosity Toward Professional Journalism: A Qualitative Analysis of the Differences Between Media Distrust and Cynicism. in Journalism. 2022;:1-19. doi:10.1177/14648849221122064 .
Markov, Čedomir, Min, Young, "Unpacking Public Animosity Toward Professional Journalism: A Qualitative Analysis of the Differences Between Media Distrust and Cynicism" in Journalism (2022):1-19, https://doi.org/10.1177/14648849221122064 . .
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Media addiction by using universal indicators
Bojić, Ljubiša; Branković, Srbobran; Marie, Jean-Louis (5th International Social Sciences Conference in Balkan, Novi Pazar, Serbia, 4-5 June, 2013) -
Media addiction by universal indicators / Mедијска зависност преко универзалних индикатора
Bojić, Ljubiša; Marie, Jean-Louis (Beograd: Institut za političke studije, 2013)