Misinformation: A Threat to Political Trust? : -A quantitative analysis of the relationship between political trust and misinformation across 10 countries.

Sammanfattning

This thesis examined the relationship between misinformation and political trust in ten European countries across a 20 year period. It aimed to explore how misinformation is associated with political trust across the 20 year period, if that association changes following the onset of the so-called post-truth era and whether political trust is affected differently by misinformation in countries belonging to the two different cultural groups, Catholic Europe and Protestant Europe. A quantitative approach using a linear mixed model, or multilevel model, was used and the theories which underlined this thesis were systems theory and the concept of a post-truth era. Based on these theories the following hypotheses about the association between political trust and misinformation were formulated, (1) that the association would be negative across the entire period, (2) that it would intensify post-2016 and (3) that in the countries belonging to the Catholic Europe cultural group, political trust would be affected more by misinformation. None of these hypotheses were supported in the analysis. Nonetheless, the results provided new insights into misinformation’s association with political trust as it instead showed a positive association between the two. Based on previous research, it is theorized that this association is the result of misinformation framing certain actors positively and by doing so bolstering trust. Additionally, it contributed to the understanding of misinformation’s characteristics and development over time. It is possible to conclude that misinformation is a complex phenomenon that requires further research.