Just a “Mouthpiece of Biased Elites?” Populist Party Sympathizers and Trust in Czech Public Service Media

Abstract

Existing research indicates that people with populist attitudes express lower trust in media, especially in Public Service Media. It is assumed that these people are alienated because of their values: populist ideology stems from anti-pluralism whereas Public Service Media promotes pluralism. This study tests this assumption by comparing the predictors of trust in Public Service Media between the populist party sympathizers and the sympathizers of other political parties in the Czech Republic. Two main expectations were included as predictors for trust in Public Service Media, specifically that media should conform to one's worldview (i.e., the cohesive dimension of trust in media) and that media should adhere to the normative standards of journalism (i.e., the normative dimension of trust in media). Using multigroup structural equation modeling, the study analyzes data from a 2019–2020 representative survey of the adult Czech population ( N = 3,251). The results suggest that, for the populist party sympathizers, trust in Public Service Media links only to their expectation that media should conform to their worldview, while the sympathizers of other political parties expect normative standards to be maintained. This is interpreted and discussed as support for the assumption that this value-based mismatch links to the populist audience members' lower trust in Public Service Media.

What the Public Wants: Audience Expectations for Public Service Media

“…While there was a broad consensus for the expectations of PSM, participants differed significantly in their actual assessments of the extent to which PSM meets these expectations, similar to the findings of the study on quality journalism by Karlsson and Clerwall (2019). Interestingly, unlike previous research (Campos Rueda, 2023;Smejkal et al, 2022) we observed no discernible patterns of difference in the assessment (satisfaction or criticism) of PSM performance among participants who support populist and non-populist parties, and non-voters. However, it is important to note that this may be attributed to the qualitative nature of this study, which serves as a research probe without making any claims to representativity.…”

“…The main criterion for recruiting participants was their political preference: two focus groups comprised of participants who voted for parties that could be described as populist in the preceding election; two focus groups consisted of people who voted for nonpopulist parties; and the remaining two groups were made up of non-voters. We employed the criterion of political preferences based on previous research (Smejkal et al, 2022), indicating differences in the reasons for trust between individuals who sympathize with populist parties and those who support other political parties. Consequently, this could mean that the expectations of the voters of populist and non-populist parties may vary.…”

“…Dissatisfaction with the performance of Czech PSM is evident not only among populist politicians but also among the segments of the public who harbor distrust in Czech PSM for various reasons (Urbániková & Smejkal, 2023). Previous research also shows that, for people who sympathize with populist parties, their level of trust is based on the extent to which they perceive PSM to reflect their worldview rather than on whether they think PSM meet normative standards (Smejkal et al, 2022).…”