Media Usage and Immigration Attitudes in Europe: Exploring Contextual Effects Across Media Forms, Structures, and Messages

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2019

Publication Title

International Communication Research Journal

Volume

54

Issue

1

First page number:

68

Last page number:

101

Abstract

Drawing upon theories of social threat and media systems, the current study uses aggregate data on 20 European nations to examine the relationship between nations' media usage, public attitudes about the general consequences of immigration, and their specific beliefs about immigrants worsening the nations' crime problem. This study found that nations with higher daily newspaper and Internet usage have more positive general attitudes toward immigrants, though television viewership was not significantly associated with these attitudes. Regardless of media sources, national attitudes about immigrants causing crime were also unrelated to the density of media usage. The author conducted content analyses of several major newspapers in the UK, Hungary, and Sweden to understand the pattern of these aggregate relationships. Supplemental analyses revealed the moderating effects of nations' media systems on public attitudes about immigration and crime.

Keywords

Media usage; Attitudes; Immigration; Crime; Newspaper coverage

Disciplines

Communication | Social and Behavioral Sciences | Social Media

Language

English


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