Third International Conference on Communication & Media Studies

Abstract

This presentation examines how the Taiwanese public’s levels of media and political trust influence their risk perceptions and propensity to support government policies entailing a significant degree of social risk, such as the government’s “New Southbound Policy.” Moreover, I also explored how risk knowledge, including subjective and objective knowledge, impact people’s risk communication behavior. A nationwide telephone survey was conducted to investigate these issues. The findings indicate that people’s risk perceptions positively influence their policy support. In addition, the participants’ media and political trust also positively impacted their risk perceptions. With respect to risk knowledge, the author confirmed that the objective knowledge of the participants negatively predicted their levels of risk perceptions. In contrast, other aspects of risk knowledge had a positive influence on risk perception and policy support. Various implications of these findings are discussed.