Social trust construction and media roles: A comparative study of trust transmission mechanisms in COVID-19 prevention and control reporting between Chinese and Malaysian media

This study conducts a cross-national comparative analysis of trust transmission mechanisms in COVID-19 prevention and control reporting between China's People's Daily and Malaysia's The Star, employing quantitative content analysis to systematically examine front-page news coverage from January 5, 2020, to May 5, 2023, with supplementary verification questionnaire surveys targeting 200 audiences to validate content analysis findings. The research develops a comprehensive analytical framework encompassing information source strategies, news frame construction, prevention strategy reporting patterns, and target group positioning, utilizing advanced statistical methods including multiple regression analysis, chi-square tests, and path analysis to reveal systematic differences in media trust construction mechanisms across distinct institutional environments. The empirical findings demonstrate: First, information source strategies constitute the fundamental determinant of trust transmission effectiveness, with primary information sources exhibiting significant negative correlation with news frame diversity (β=-0.069, t=-2.764, p<0.01) while showing positive correlation with policy-focused news content (β=0.342, t=12.567, p<0.001). Second, national institutional backgrounds fundamentally regulate media trust transmission patterns, with People's Daily demonstrating an authoritative centralization model achieving 78.5% primary source usage and government institution dependence of 45.8%, while The Star exhibits a pluralistic diversification model with 3.47 average sources per report and balanced frame distribution. Third, strategic alignment between prevention measures and target groups significantly enhances trust optimization effects (β=0.742, F=89.456, p<0.001), with target group diversity demonstrating superior predictive capacity for prevention measure scope expansion (β=0.587, t=26.234, p<0.001) compared to intervention strategy complexity. Fourth, differentiated media role positioning generates distinct trust effect pathways, with official media constructing institutional authority-based trust through government credibility perception (correlation r=0.687, p<0.001), while commercial media establish professional competence-based trust through information objectivity and balance perceptions. This research provides crucial empirical evidence for understanding cross-cultural media trust construction mechanisms during global public health crises, offering theoretical foundations and practical guidance for optimizing crisis communication strategies and enhancing media social trust functions under different institutional contexts.