本文承續政治學界有關政治信任的理論傳統，將新聞媒體視為政治機構的一種，探討民眾媒體信任的來源。研究中引用機構信任的相關文獻，假設民眾對民主的支持、新聞媒體的表現皆可能會左右民眾對媒體的信任。利用電話訪問法所得到的民意調查資料，研究首先檢視民主支持、媒體表現兩類變項的民意分布。結果顯示，台灣民眾對民主政治的支持程度頗高，不支持／支持的比例各約佔一成八、七成五；相對地，社會大眾對新聞媒體各方面的表現卻多不滿意。本文測量媒體表現共計使用六項指標：設定重要議題、可信度、多元性、第四權、自主性、政治興趣。針對這六項指標，多數民意在設定重要議題、可信度、自主性、政治興趣等，皆顯示負面的評價；僅在多元性、第四權是正面多於負面的看法。其次，若把民主支持與測量媒體表現的六項指標納入統計模型，結果發現只有第四權未對媒體信任具顯著影響力。此一研究結果大致證實本文假設，也印證了終身學習模型應是解釋台灣民眾媒體信任較為合適的理論。在控制變項方面，本文發現男性、年齡較大的世代皆傾向不信任媒體。另外，具泛藍認同、居住北部與東部的民眾，則傾向較信任媒體。 This study treats mass media as one of the political institutions in a democratic system and attempts to explore sources of people's trust in mass media. Based on the literature of political trust, this work proposes the hypothesis that both democratic support and media performances might benefit media trust.First, the study describes opinion distribution of democratic support and media performances. Mass support for democracy is pretty high. Nearly 75% of Taiwanese agree that democracy is the best political system. However, public evaluations toward media performances are much lower. Among six indicators concerning media performances, merely pluralism and the fourth power receive more than a 50% positive evaluation. In contrast, most people show negative attitudes toward four indicators, which include setting significant issues, media credibility, media autonomy, and political interests. Second, the study examines effects of democratic support and six indicators of media performances on media trust. Except for the fourth power, democratic support and five indicators of media performances reveal significant impact on media trust. The result proves the author's hypothesis. The lifetime learning model apparently could be applied to explain sources of media trust. In addition, males and elder generations are inclined to distrust the media. However, pan-blue identifiers and people in either northern or eastern areas tend to trust media.
Relation:
東吳政治學報=Soochow Journal of Political Science 30(1)，頁43-79
