Abstract:
The enduring issue of communicative untruthfulness, coupled with a surge in populist
attitudes, declining trust in news, and the advent of the post-truth era, has become a global
concern. Scholarly investigations have predominantly focused on the supply side of
untruthful information, with limited studies in the Western world attempting to understand
the audience's perspective. Notably, there is a complete absence of such studies in Pakistan.
Recent events in the country, including Indian propaganda, heightened polarization,
populist attitudes, and mob actions, underscore the gravity of communicative
untruthfulness. In today's highly diverse media landscape, this issue's significance is
heightened. Despite occasional studies on trust in news media in Pakistan, existing research
lacks depth, relying on simplistic conceptualizations and measures that scholars deem
insufficient for the complexities of the contemporary media system. This research aims to
bridge this gap by conducting a survey with 356 participants, exploring Pakistani audience
perceptions. It seeks to contribute to a nuanced understanding of the complex information
ecosystem, encompassing communicative untruthfulness, heightened subjectivism toward
the epistemological status of facts, increased populist attitudes, and declining trust in news.
The study aims to highlight how widespread perceived communicative untruthfulness is
and how it correlates with relevant political and media characteristics of audiences, such
as populist attitudes, trust in news, and hostile media perceptions.
