Globally, public trust in four key social institutions – media, government, business and NGOs (including academia) – has been in freefall. This ‘implosion of trust’ (Edelman 2017) has been observed in part in the migration of audiences from traditional news media (newspapers, TV and radio) to online and alternative news sources such as blogs, Twitter and Facebook.

The Centre for Media Transition commissioned this bibliography to assess the current state of knowledge on public trust in journalism – including audience expectations and the role of journalists, platforms, social media and other online news sources – in Australia and throughout the world.

The bibliography is divided into three parts, according to source type: public opinion polls and surveys; peer-reviewed academic literature; and perspectives from the journalistic field. The annotations summarise the aims, methods and key findings of each work referenced. Some of the longer annotations offer additional historical background and political context for media systems in selected countries.

• Part 1: Public Opinion Polls and Surveys, contains references to recent public opinion polls and surveys that measure public trust in journalism across dozens of countries and geopolitical regions including Australia, Africa, Asia, China, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and North America.
• Part 2: Peer-reviewed Academic Literature, is equally geographically and culturally diverse It includes references to peer-reviewed studies published as books, book chapters, journal articles and major university-published reports. Most of these studies investigate factors that influence perceptions of credibility or public trust in the news media. The section also contains theoretical papers and literature reviews that engage in reflexive analyses and propose new research directions.
• Part 3: Perspectives from the Journalistic Field, presents a collection of news articles, features, editorials, commentaries, blogs and other contributions from journalists, news editors and media scholars working on collaborative projects between news organisations and universities. These works offer explanations of why public trust in journalism has declined and suggest strategies for adapting to technological change.