Conceptualizations and Operationalizations of News Media Trust across Time and Borders

A Systematic Literature Review (1951–2025)

Bibliographic Data

ID17537012
AuthorsYongliang Liu (0000-0002-2646-7210, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, corresponding author), Mark Boukes (0000-0002-3377-6281, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands), Michael Hameleers (0000-0002-8038-5005, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands), Hanqin Li (0009-0008-3334-6899, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China), Huitao Li (0000-0001-6956-8452, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China), Qing’an Zhou (Tsinghua University, Beijing, China)
Year2026
Publication date2026-01-18
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCommunication Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0093-6502 • E-ISSN: 1552-3810
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/00936502251393580
OpenAlexW7124773988
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited97

Research on news media trust and the many related concepts has grown steadily in recent years. Yet, the field currently still lacks a comprehensive understanding of the extent to which the conceptualizations and operationalizations of these constructs are (mis)aligned. To address this gap, we systematically reviewed and content-analyzed 623 empirical publications on news media trust and related concepts from 1951 to 2025. We found a great diversity in operationalizations and conceptualizations of trust-related concepts, which could be partly explained by various contextual and methodological factors, such as the timing, region, and method of the research. By synthesizing previous definitions, we identified three distinct approaches to define these concepts, aiming to integrate the various perspectives on this topic. Our findings suggest that future research should aim for a more coherent operationalization of news media trust variables to ensure consistency and comparability across studies

Comparability · Consistency (knowledge bases) · Diversity (politics) · Empirical research · Field (mathematics) · News media · Operationalization · Systematic review · Media Influence and Politics · Media Studies and Communication · Public Relations and Crisis Communication

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