Ilka Jakobs, Henriette P. Pohle, Tilman Klawier, Fabian Prochazka, Nayla Fawzi, Nina Steindl, Dorothee Arlt, Marco Dohle, Katherine M. Engelke, Nikolaus Jackob, Magdalena Obermaier, Wolfgang Schweiger, Marc Ziegele
We examine what types of news media trust can be identified among adolescents based on their trust levels and the degree of elaboration about media. Moreover, we investigate the role of socialization contexts (family, peers, and schools) in the development of adolescents’ media trust and ability to elaborate. Through qualitative interviews with 50 German adolescents aged 14 to 19, we find 5 types, with only a minority of adolescents showing highly elaborated media trust. With minor differences between the types, parents appear to be the most influential socialization agents in shaping how young people use, perceive, and trust news media.