The Media as Part of a Detached Elite? Exploring Antimedia Populism Among Citizens and Its Relation to Political Populism

Abstract

Populism research usually addresses politicians as part of the criticized elite, but neglects the media. This study explores populist attitudes against the media and their relation to political populism. The study validates the proposed antimedia populism scale and shows that antimedia populist attitudes apply to a specific and small group of German society. Confirming a relationship between political populism and antimedia populist attitudes, the results indicate that citizens who have developed a populist worldview tend to evaluate the media in congruence with this overall ideology and include the media in their conception of a detached elite. Moreover, antimedia populist attitudes are more common among individuals with feelings of relative deprivation and those with antipluralist and authoritarian submission attitudes.