Strategic communication of distrust as a means of delegitimizing news media in Germany

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Matthias Kohring
• Subject Area: Communication Sciences
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 553029054

The project understands the repeated radical criticism of news media, such as that voiced during the coronavirus pandemic and even before that by the PEGIDA movement, as just two examples of the systematic efforts of radical right-wing actors in particular to delegitimize the established news media. The aim of buzzwords such as “lying press” is not justified, even polemical media criticism in order to point out grievances and demand improvements, but rather the general delegitimization of the established news media: these are fundamentally denied the ability and willingness to inform their audiences appropriately and correctly about social events. This type of communication is referred to as delegitimizing media criticism. The strategy to achieve the goal of delegitimization – according to the first thesis of the proposal – consists of communicating distrust in the established news media. This distrust refers to the conviction that the news media do not fulfill their orientation function and even actively contribute to the disorientation of their audiences. Understood in this way, distrust communication attacks the central resource of democratic institutions: Without the trust of their audiences, these institutions would lose their authority vis-à-vis their reference groups. According to the second thesis, this strategic communication of distrust can be observed as a discourse pattern that spans and encompasses various actors and publics. This trategic and systematic orientation, which can also be observed in other institutions of democratic societies such as science, is characterized by the term "distrust order". The aim of the research project is firstly to identify strategic communication of distrust to delegitimize news media in different public arenas, e.g. in so-called alternative media or in the communication of civil society actors, and secondly to reconstruct their typical basic features. The explorative instrument of Mayring's structuring content analysis is used for this purpose. Such a concept of typical communication of distrust makes it possible to identify the delegitimization of established news media separately from its stylistic form and also regardless of its connection to relevantly known, e.g. right-wing extremist actors. In addition, such an analysis tool, which can be standardized for future research projects, sharpens the view for the possible social dissemination of such media-delegitimizing communication patterns, be it in the communication of audiences in social media or in the communication of non-radical political actors. In addition, the concept of typical distrust communication allows a comparison with similar delegitimization strategies, e.g. with regard to science.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants