Journal of Media and Religion, 11:31–43, 2012 Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 1534-8423 print/1534-8415 online DOI: 10.1080/15348423.2012.655112 Perceptions of Media Trust and Credibility Among Mormon College Students Guy J. Golan Syracuse University Sherry Baker Brigham Young University Evaluation of media credibility and trust among Mormons is examined in this study. The re- sults suggest low assessments of the credibility of the mainstream news media across several dimensions. Participating Mormons viewed the news media as liberal and politically biased; they did not agree that the news media were credible, trustworthy, got their facts straight or were moral. The ever-changing news media landscape offers individuals more information and news source alternatives than ever before. Yet research identifies a steady decline in news media credi- bility across platforms (Pew, 2010). Scholars of media credibility point to a highly complex and multilayered construct that cannot be fully explained by any single variable (Kohring & Matthes, 2007). This area of scholarship points to a variety of individual-level factors that may be useful in explaining assessments of media credibility (Stempel, Hargrove, & Bernt, 2000; Kiousis, 2001). Most recently, scholars explored the relationship between re- ligion and assessments of media credibility. The growing importance of religious faith in American politics (Jelen, 2000; Wald, 2003; Wilcox & Larson, 2006) makes this under- investigated area of media scholarship (Buddenbaum & Stout, 1996) more significant than ever. The current study aims to advance scholarship of media credibility and religion by providing one of the first empirical examinations of media credibility evaluations among highly religious Mormons. Representing less than 2% of the American population (Pew, 2009), members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), or Mormons, have emerged as an important political constituency in American politics. Correspondence should be sent to Guy J. Golan, S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University. E-mail: gjgolan@syr.edu 31 Downloaded by [Syracuse University], [Guy Golan] at 08:02 29 March 2012