New DGF scientific network with involvement of the Department of Communication (IfK): Media Trust in the Digital World
Over the next three years, the German Research Association (DFG) is funding a scientific network on the topic “Media Trust in the Digital World” with 50,000 Euros. The applicant is Dr. Nayla Fawzi of the LMU München. From the Department of Communication, Prof. Bernd Blöbaum and Dr. Katherine M. Engelke are involved. Both have already conducted research on media trust in the DFG Research Training Group “Trust and Communication in a Digitized World” and other research projects.
Altogether, the network brings together 15 members from seven universities in Germany and Switzerland who all work on different projects involving media trust.
The network will sprit in three working groups in order to deal with current research questions on trust in the media:
- From a theoretical-normative perspective, the first working group will deal with the so far widely neglected question as to what extent of media trust is actually desired in a society. In particular, this group deals with what happens when healthy skepticism changes to media cynicism or to blind trust and how these three forms of trust, respective mistrust, can be differentiated.
- From a methodological perspective, the second working group will deal with the question of operationalizing media trust, meaning how the construct can be captured empirically as validly as possible.
- From an empirical perspective, the third working group will systemize the state of research regarding causes and consequences of media trust and develop an agenda for future research.
The network will commence its work in January 2019. Further information on DFG-funded networks can be found here.