Media Use and Political Trust in an Emerging Democracy: Setting the Institutional Trust Agenda in Kosovo

Abstract

Even though the consequences of media use for political trust are a saturated target of research, empirical studies that examine media content are limited to the effects of negative news and strategic framing on Western audiences. This study explores how agenda-setting effects on institutional attributes and performance prime citizens’ trust in political institutions in a transitional society. Drawing on survey and content analysis data, it suggests that the most important dimension of political trust is media priming of institutional efficiency and honesty. Whereas perceptions of economic performance have a significant positive relationship with trust in institutions, perceptions of political performance do not show any significant correlation with political trust.