Keywords: traditional media, new media, Europe, political trust.
How do the media affect political trust? Studies on the media and their relationship with
trust in political institutions tend to focus on just a few types and yield contradictory results.
This study thus aims to fill this gap, considering both traditional (television, press and
radio) and new media (the Internet and online social networks). Based on pool data gathered
by Eurobarometers (2014-2017) and applying a random regression model, it is possible to
state that in the media galaxy traditional and the new media play a diversified role in determining
citizens’ political trust. Furthermore, traditional media are the information channels
that most strengthen the link between public opinion and political institutions.