The people versus the media: Dissecting the relationship between populist attitudes and media evaluations in Italy

Mass media are often portrayed by populist politicians as biased, elitist, and antagonist of the people. This study uses a social identity theory framework to examine the relationship between four dimensions of populist attitudes and attitudes towards mass media. Findings from a two-wave panel survey of the Italian adult population (W1 = 1,107, W2 = 832) confirm that anti-elite attitudes have negative effects on media evaluations and media trust. Anti out-group attitudes have detrimental effects for evaluations of media quality, while they enhance trust in commercial news and trust in right-wing tabloids. People with strong attitudes related to homogeneity of the people evaluate the quality of news reporting positively and they tend to trust right-wing tabloids.