A “Deep Story” About American Journalism

Advancing a qualitative turn in news media trust research

“…This method relies mainly on individual, in‐depth, and semi‐structured interviews asking participants to describe concrete episodes in which complex, potentially abstract, concepts—such as journalism—have played a role in their lives. As Palmer (2019) argues:…”

“…Indeed, user experiences and practices, when studied from a qualitative standpoint, appear to be much more complex, layered, and even paradoxical than can be revealed by quantitative measures (Costera Meijer, 2020). News media trust is a complex construct that involves both the cognitive and emotional dimensions (Palmer, 2019), and it is therefore challenging to capture.…”

“…-Suppose you saw or heard conflicting or different reports on the same event from different actors/media outlets/ media types (provide a list of actors/media outlets/media types), which of these versions would you be most likely to believe? (see Van Dalen, 2020) -How willing are you to trust a source that (provide a list of different actions) Moreover, since trust in news media is also a question of how people feel about the success or failure of news media in meeting their expectations (Coleman, Anthony, & Morrison, 2012;Palmer, 2019), qualitative research can help to structure answers that intercept the most emotional aspects that arise when citizens interact with news media:…”

“…Because “the sustainability of any social practice depends to a large measure on how it feels to participate in it” (Coleman, 2013, p. 4), it is of vital importance to investigate “how things feel” (Hochschild, 2016, p. 135). Several research studies show that news media trust requires an approach that is more emotion‐oriented: emotions may inform general attitudes toward journalism and responses to anti‐media rhetoric (see Palmer, 2019). A qualitative approach makes it possible to capture in‐depth emotional nuances elicited when people interact with news media (ibid.).…”

“…Resorting to the deep story framework, Palmer (2019) interviewed ordinary people who were named in mainstream news stories in the US, investigating among other things how they felt about interacting with journalists. The results highlighted that interviewees felt corralled, exploited, and bullied by “a powerful entity that was supposed to look out for citizens, but instead tried to deny its power while often taking advantage of them” (p. 338–339).…”