Factors influencing trust in media: exploring the association between media consumption and news about the 15M Movement

Debate over consumer trust in traditional media has intensified due to theappearance of networked social movements, particularly considering media coverage ofthe protests, the emergence of alternative media and social media as informationsources. A survey was created for this study to provide insight into the associationbetween media exposure, trust and political participation in networked socialmovements, specifically among 15M Movement activists. Data is presented to show towhat extent do 15M activists view traditional and alternative media as trustworthy. Thearticle also looks at the causes of trust and mistrust in those media.Results indicate that politically-interested online users placed more trust in informationdisseminated by alternative media than by conventional media. Furthermore, exposure tosocial media is associated with trust in media, while age and gender are not. This meansthat the increased use of alternative and social media involves a decreased trust ininformation provided by traditional media. Instead, those who do not use social mediaand those who use traditional media are those who most trusted mass media the most.<p>