Corona, climate change, Russia and migration - media topics that many people do not see as reflecting their own attitudes, but rather as propaganda imposed from above. In some parts of the population, especially in Saxony, trust in the media landscape is declining, as is trust in politics. This is not just an impression, but is also supported by a scientific study conducted by the Institute of Communication and Media Studies at Leipzig University: The researchers conducted and analyzed 61 qualitative guided interviews over a period of five years as part of a study. The results were published in "Trust in Journalism and Democracy in Saxony". Questions for the two co-authors Dr. Judith Kretzschmar and Uwe Krüger:
The book is entitled "Von Lügenpresse und abgehobenen Eliten. Journalism and trust in democracy in Saxony" . What was the initial thesis of your study and why did you decide to use guided interviews?
Judith Kretzschmar: On the one hand, we approached the interviewees as openly as possible because we really wanted to listen calmly and understand the reasons for mistrust in depth. The method of individual interviews using guidelines was the most suitable. However, we had a hypothesis: that attitudes towards the established media are closely linked to attitudes towards politics and democracy.
How did you evaluate the interviews?
Uwe Krüger: All the interviews - around 73 hours of material - were transcribed and openly coded, which means that we extracted the reasons for mistrust and distrust of the media and politics from the transcripts.
What are the most important findings?
Uwe Krüger: In fact, people either distrust both the media and politics or trust both. Media skepticism is therefore not an isolated phenomenon, but rather expresses dissatisfaction with social conditions.
Judith Kretzschmar: And: The suspicion of the lying press is often linked to the fact that people feel moral pressure from the media or political debate. People are expected to accept certain changes or change their behavior - and this is attributed to a concerted intention to manipulate "from above".
Are there any findings that you did not expect?
Judith Kretzschmar: The GDR is very vivid as a comparative foil for today’s conditions: Many interviewees cited the GDR as a negative contrast to today, but even more said that everything today is actually the same as it used to be. Some see no difference at all between today’s liberal democracy and a one-party dictatorship with a state-run press that is controlled by the same interests. The reasons given for this are remarkable: an opinion is given, people are educated and instructed, you have to read between the lines again.
Journalists can learn something from the results of your study. Should they perhaps also learn something from it?
Uwe Krüger: If reporting were to become more constructive, more depolarizing, more sober, less thesis-driven and less judgmental, this should strengthen media confidence under conditions of social division.
Judith Kretzschmar: We also need more media education, more political education, more interpersonal encounters - and more citizen journalism. Once you have learned and tried out the basics of the journalistic craft yourself, you certainly look at media content differently.
Judith Kretzschmar; Markus Beiler; Uwe Krüger & Florian Döring (2025): " Of lying press and detached elites. Journalism and trust in democracy in Saxony.", published by transcript Verlag as Open Access
New project "Citizens do journalism - strengthening media confidence for a changing democracy"
In April 2025, the practical and research project "Citizens do journalism - strengthening media trust for a changing democracy", which is being funded by the Volkswagen Foundation for five years, will be launched. The project was launched by an interdisciplinary academic team at Leipzig University together with the Saxony chapter of the German Journalists’ Association (DJV) and will be based at the Center for Journalism and Democracy (JoDem) at Leipzig University’s Institute of Communication and Media Studies. Bürger machen Journalismus" has set itself the goal of reducing the distance between citizens and journalists, initiating joint learning processes and building new trust in journalism.
