On the Social Factors Affecting Trust Level in Frequently Published Newspapers: Student's Appraisal at Islamic Azad University, Quchan Branch

Press, as the most effective medium among the mass media, plays a vital role in illuminating the public mind. The rate of the newspaper read by the people in a society can be regarded as an index of their social participation and a measurement of their showing concern about as well as a sense of belonging to their own social destiny. Such concerns well depend on the people’s trusting the honesty on the part of the mass media, the press in particular. The objective of this study is to determine the social factors having impact on the level of trust in the frequently published newspapers through a survey of students’ views at Islamic Azad University of Quchan. The data for this sectional survey study were gathered through cluster sampling. Research-made questionnaires were distributed among 359 students of Islamic Azad University of Quchan in 1393. In this research, we used Pearson correlation, one-way analysis of variance, stepwise multiple regression and independent T-test. The findings revealed that the socio-economic status, sex, level of education, field of study and the level of their social capital have meaningful relationship with the level of trust they put in the newspapers.