An experimental study on confidence in the mass media

Research Project

Project/Area Number	17K04315
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Section	一般
Research Field	Social psychology
Research Institution	Kobe University
Principal Investigator	Kobayashi Tetsuro 神戸大学, 法学研究科, 研究員 (60455194)
Project Period (FY)	2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2019)
Budget Amount *help	¥4,290,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥990,000) Fiscal Year 2019: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000) Fiscal Year 2018: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000) Fiscal Year 2017: ¥1,690,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥390,000)
Keywords	マスメディア / 信頼 / インターネット / ソーシャルメディア / メッセージアプリ / 実験 / 社会調査
Outline of Final Research Achievements	Confidence in the mass media plays an important role in helping people to make decisions based on correct knowledge. The decline of confidence in the mass media increases the likelihood of fake news spreading as people tend to disagree on what is correct and what is not. Based on previous research in the United States, this study aimed to explore the antecedents of confidence in the mass media in Japan; two experiments and one social survey were conducted, partially replicating the findings in the United States. Reflecting recent trend of news exposure in Japan, the social survey conducted in the final year of the study also measured the news exposure on instant messaging applications such as LINE to explore the relationship between trust in the mass media.
Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements	日本におけるマスメディアに対する信頼は他国と比較してもかなり高いレベルにあることが知られている。近年は新聞の購読率が低下し、若年層ではテレビの視聴時間も低下傾向にあるにもかかわらず、マスメディアに対する信頼は高いレベルで維持されている。本研究の成果は、こうした信頼がどのような要因に裏付けられているのかを実験と社会調査によって明らかにした。