Perceived Communicative Untruthfulness and Populist Attitudes: A Study of Pakistani Audiences

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.