Consequences of war on media trust: how war in Ukraine creates indifference and distrust among Russian-speakers in Estonia

Introduction This article examines media trust as a culturally embedded phenomenon and analyses how major societal crises reshape trust within different media communities. Focusing on Estonia, it explores the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine on media trust, with particular attention to Russian-speaking audiences. Methods The analysis is based on two representative survey datasets collected in Estonia in 2021 and 2023. The 2021 survey focused on media trust, perceptions of misinformation, and Covid-19-related media content. A cluster analysis was conducted to identify distinct patterns of media trust among respondents. The 2023 survey, centred on media trust in the context of the war in Ukraine, was interpreted in light of the media-trust profiles established in the earlier analysis. Results The 2021 analysis identified four distinct clusters of respondents, revealing significant variation in media trust, perceptions of misinformation, and evaluations of crisis-related information. The 2023 findings indicate that the war in Ukraine further deepened differences between Estonia's Estonian- and Russian-speaking media communities. Estonian-speaking respondents largely interpreted the war through a framework of solidarity with Ukraine and historical identification with the victim of aggression. Russian-speaking respondents, by contrast, displayed greater disorientation, indifference, and distrust, reflecting the tensions produced by their linguistic and cultural proximity to Russia alongside their position within Estonian society. Discussion The findings demonstrate that media trust cannot be understood solely as an individual attitude toward news sources, but must also be analysed in relation to cultural belonging, collective memory, and geopolitical context. In divided media environments, international crises may reinforce existing cleavages and generate divergent trust trajectories across linguistic communities. The study contributes to a more context-sensitive understanding of media trust and its vulnerability during periods of acute societal and geopolitical disruption.