ABSTRACT
Ever since the Frankfurt School in the 1920s initiated its critical inquiry into the role of mass media in propagating the logic of fascism and capitalism, anthropologists, sociologists, political economists and other media critics have been asking what it is that makes people believe what they read, hear and see in the media. Research on media credibility over the years has yielded fascinating results, especially with regard to the study of news. In general, these studies fall into one of three theoretical/methodological categories – sociological production studies, critical text analysis and ethnographic reception studies.
