Beliefs and the Mass Media

The speaker said that this is a very important topic in political communication in Germany as well as other countries in the world today. Every time a politician is elected, public opinion and the media share information, discuss and express in many different ways their trust and confidence in them.

Dr. Martha mentioned the concept of trust by a famous sociologist - Niklas Luhmann. In a complex world like today, people cannot have complete information about everything. However, people still need to have faith in something because faith motivates action. Therefore, trust reduces the complexity of society and the world, helps us overcome the limitation of information shortage and generalizes our expectations about behavior. In other words, trust helps replace the information we do not know with the assurance from within each person.

Trust is needed in many different situations in life. Trust occurs at many levels: the interpersonal level; the institutional or organizational level; and the highest level is the societal level.

Dr. Martha also mentioned the difference between faith and hope. Faith is an action based on certain certainty and expectation of people and people use it to make decisions. But hope is based on feelings, information is unclear, not as certain as faith.

Another concept related to trust is credibility. The speaker said that credibility is a lower level of trust. It is a characteristic associated with any individual or organization, but can only be achieved after a process of interaction, contact, and sharing with each other. And credibility is also expressed and perceived in many ways and directions. If trust is a concept related to the future, credibility is a concept related to the present.

Discussing the factors to build trust in politicians in terms of political communication, the presentation analyzed in depth 4 factors: capacity, social interaction ability, prestige, understanding. In which, communication research has shown: politicians often build trust and confidence of the public effectively through the ability to interact socially, creating emotional connections to seek understanding and sympathy from the public.

So what criteria or factors should journalists and media workers pay attention to in order to build readers' trust? Dr. Martha shared that focusing on data, facts, and specific and accurate information will help readers have trust in journalists. On the other hand, journalists need to focus on building and sharing stories with specific emotions and situations to create more attraction, sympathy and understanding from readers.

Associate Professor, Dr. Dang Thi Thu Huong (Head of the Faculty of Journalism and Communication) took a souvenir photo with Dr. Martha Kuhnhenn

Dr. Martha Kuhnhenn took a souvenir photo with representatives of the Faculty of Journalism and Communication.