Credibility of media offerings in centrally controlled media systems: a qualitative study based on the example of East Germany

Abstract

Research on media use in authoritarian political systems supports the thesis that media offerings in such systems suffer from a low factor of credibility, leading to declining political interest within society, continuous retreat into the private sphere and heavy use of foreign media offerings in the search of trustworthy information. The literature indicates that both the political and centrally controlled media system have an impact on the communication needs of citizens. These findings are at odds with audience research into democratic societies, which has emphasized entertainment as the most important variable for media use, whereas only a few segments of the audience are interested in genuinely political items. This article argues that the above assumptions concerning media use in countries governed by authoritarian regimes have failed to recognize the role of daily life in media selection and reception. It points out that communication science has ignored citizens’ predominant desire for entertainment and over-estimated their need for information. The typology of East German media consumers presented in this article shows that, rather than being formed by the political system and a specific media landscape, people’s communication needs are primarily shaped by the routines and patterns of everyday life.