Journal article
Assemblages of Trust: A Discursive-Material Analysis of Czech Citizens’ Perceptions of Media and Democracy
By Karolína Šimková and Jeffrey Wimmer
ESSACHESS – Journal for Communication Studies
This study examines how trust and mistrust in media and democracy in the Czech Republic emerge from the interaction of discursive interpretations and material conditions. Drawing on Carpentier’s (2017) discursive-material framework and four focus groups (n=38), the study identifies three core dynamics: discursive constructions of (mis)trust shaped by perceptions of bias, corruption and political influence; material inequalities in access, literacy and communicative power that structure citizens’ sense of voice; and residual democratic anchors, such as elections and EU integration, that sustain selective trust. The analysis further shows how media pluralism, ownership concentration and digital platforms reconfigure trust repertoires in the Czech media environment. Across the four focus groups, trust emerged as a situated practice rather than a stable attitude, shaped by communicative infrastructures and everyday democratic experiences.
This article is part of the special MeDeMAP issue of ESSACHESS – Journal for Communication Studies. Based on the European MeDeMAP project, the studies presented within this issue highlight how citizens perceive both material threats (media ownership concentration, political and economic pressures) and discursive challenges (loss of trust, misinformation, and polarization) affecting democratic communication.