National crises present many challenges to governments, publics, and practitioners alike. All three are forced to rely on various channels of communication, including interpersonal communication with leaders and mediated communication via state run media and independent media, for direction, reassurance and information. In the time immediately following the crisis governments and practitioners have to build, or rebuild, trust and the choice of channel may have a significant effect on publics' acceptance or rejection of their messages as well as on the overall development of civil society.

This paper reports the results of a project funded by USAID [Grant OTI/ZE 198] in which trained native-language speakers administered oral and/or written questionnaires to more than 740 Bosnians in six cities, and in three dialects of Serbo-Croatian, to explore the role of strategic communication channels in rebuilding civil society after its utter breakdown. Bosnians were asked about their levels of trust in the three kinds of strategic channels most available to practitioners; government officials, alternative media, and state controlled media. The findings suggest that shortly after the war Bosnians had medium levels of trust in the available communication channels, although when it comes to obtaining important information it appears that alternative media are considered to be significantly more trustworthy than either the state media or local government officials. Finally, political affiliation and ethnicity affect trust in communication channels in complex ways. This information helps us to understand both the strengths and limitations of these communication channels and the ways that they can contribute to civil society.