How Mass Media Influences the Perception on Quality of Public Services

Nowadays, the role of mass media shifted from informing citizen to influencing and shaping their opinion about the environment they live in. Communication channels have also diversified over time, people having the opportunity to choose to obtain information from the online environment: websites, social platforms, blog, as well as from offline: television, radio. In this regard, the influence of mass media can be discussed in the context of the opinions people hold about the quality and performance of public services. Given the way messages are sent and the professionalism of journalists, trust becomes a fundamental element that underlies the power of the media to influence people's perception. Taking into account the aspects previously mentioned, this paper aims to identify the way mass media influences people’s perception about the quality of public services in Brasov County, so as to find methods to improve this services. In order to conduct the research, several methods will be used. Firstly, a content analysis will be carried out, to obtain information from online platforms. Further, people’s perception, types of news they have seen about public services, and people’s trust in media channels, will be measured through a questionnaire as well as through interviews applied to people living in several areas of Brasov County such as Rupea, Codlea, Fagaras, Brasov. Considering that generally, perception about public services is negative in Romania, as results we expect to find out that media has a significant contribution in negatively influencing citizens opinions about quality and performance of these services.