Methoden vergleichen

	Media Trust Scale	Wählerzynismus-Skala
Fachgebiet	Politische Psychologie	Politische Psychologie
Familie	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Entstehungsjahr	1994	1960
Urheber	Mark D. West & Spiro Kiousis	Angus Campbell et al.
Typ	Self-report	Self-report
Wegweisende Quelle	West, M. D. (1994). Validating a scale for the measurement of credibility: A covariance structure modeling approach. Journalism Quarterly, 71(1), 159-168.	Campbell, A., Converse, P. E., Miller, W. E., & Stokes, D. E. (1960). The American voter. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Aliasnamen	MTS, Press Credibility Scale, News Media Confidence	PCS, Political Efficacy Cynicism, Electoral System Cynicism
Verwandt	3	3
Zusammenfassung	The Media Trust Scale measures audience confidence in news media credibility, including perceptions of accuracy, fairness, completeness, and journalists' motivations. Developed by West (1994) and extended by Kiousis (2001), the scale captures both medium-specific trust (trust in TV news vs. newspapers vs. online news) and outlet-specific trust (CNN vs. Fox News vs. BBC vs. local news). Media trust is central to understanding political polarization, misinformation vulnerability, and the functioning of the democratic public sphere, as low-trust populations reject news sources entirely, opening space for alternative information ecosystems.	The Voter Cynicism Scale measures citizen skepticism and disillusionment regarding the political process, including beliefs that the electoral system is rigged, politicians are self-serving, and voting does not matter. The measure captures a pessimistic orientation toward electoral democracy distinct from distrust in institutions (which can coexist with belief in democratic potential) or political alienation. Rooted in Campbell et al.'s American Voter (1960) tradition of measuring political efficacy and cynicism, the scale remains central to understanding voter turnout decline, support for populist alternatives, and democratic legitimacy crises.