Some Media Matter More Than Others: Investigating Media Effects on Attitudes toward and Perceptions of Immigration in Sweden

2019 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 1238-1264
Author(s):  
Nora Theorin ◽  
Jesper Strömbäck
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Panel Study ◽  
Alternative Media ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Immigration Attitudes ◽  
Effects Of Media ◽  
Attitudes Toward Immigration

Over the last decade, issues related to immigration have become increasingly salient across Western democracies. This increasing salience has made it more important to understand people’s attitudes toward immigration, including the effects of media use on those attitudes. Differentiating between attitudes toward different types of immigration, attitudes toward immigration from different parts of the world, and perceptions of immigration’s impact, this article investigates the effects of media use on attitudes toward and perceptions of immigration in Sweden. Based on a three-year, three-wave panel study, it investigates the effects of media use on the individual level. Among other things, results show that there are limited effects of using traditional news media but more substantial effects on people’s immigration attitudes of using anti-immigration, right-wing alternative media and pro-immigration, left-wing alternative media. These findings imply that it is highly relevant to account for media use, especially alternative media use, when studying public attitudes toward immigration. Further, we find that variations in people’s immigration attitudes, to a high degree, depend on the type of immigration and on where migrants are coming from. This finding underlines the importance of measuring both of these aspects when the aim is understanding general attitudes toward immigration and/or key predictors behind immigration attitudes.

The Development of Political Interest Among Adolescents: A Communication Mediation Approach Using Five Waves of Panel Data

2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (8) ◽  
pp. 1055-1077 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Shehata ◽  
Erik Amnå
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Panel Data ◽  
News Media ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Panel Study ◽  
Political Interest ◽  
Mediation Model ◽  
Opinion Formation ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Current Affairs

Political interest is one of the most important individual-level predictors of news media use, public opinion formation, and engagement. When, how, and why some citizens develop a strong interest in politics is, however, less clear. This study analyzes the development of political interest during the formative years of adolescence, using a five-wave panel study among Swedish adolescents, covering a period of 4 years. Based on the citizen communication mediation model, we analyze how interest in political and current affairs news among family and friends influence adolescents’ political interest. Taken together, while the findings lend support for several of the hypotheses, mechanisms, and processes derived from the communication mediation model, parents appear more important than peers when it comes to shaping adolescents’ political interest.

The Upside of Accents: Language, Inter-group Difference, and Attitudes toward Immigration

2014 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 531-557 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel J. Hopkins
Keyword(s):  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Latino Immigrants ◽  
Immigrant Assimilation ◽  
Negative Stereotypes ◽  
Policy Responses ◽  
Immigration Attitudes ◽  
Accented English ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Attitudes Toward Immigration

Many developed democracies are experiencing high immigration, and public attitudes likely shape their policy responses. Prior studies of ethnocentrism and stereotyping make divergent predictions about anti-immigration attitudes. Some contend that culturally distinctive immigrants consistently generate increased opposition; others predict that natives’ reactions depend on the particular cultural distinction and associated stereotypes. This article tests these hypotheses using realistic, video-based experiments with representative American samples. The results refute the expectation that more culturally distinctive immigrants necessarily induce anti-immigration views: exposure to Latino immigrants with darker skin tones or who speak Spanish does not increase restrictionist attitudes. Instead, the impact of out-group cues hinges on their content and related norms, as immigrants who speak accented English seem to counteract negative stereotypes related to immigrant assimilation.

A Panel Study on the Effects of Social Media Use and Internet Connectedness on Academic Performance and Social Support

2018 ◽  
pp. 778-793
Author(s):  
Louis Leung
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Academic Performance ◽  
Perceived Social Support ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Panel Study ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Level Change ◽  
Facebook Use

Using a longitudinal panel study approach, this research examined the effects of social media use and internet connectedness on academic performance and on perceived social support. Results showed that, after controlling demographics and overall grades at Time 1, individual-level change in overall grades over the year that followed was attributable to Facebook, blogs, and online game use but not to internet connectedness. Results suggest that heavy Facebook use has a positive effect on overall grades, while heavy use of blogs and online games leads to grade impairment. In the case of academic competence and perceived social support, individual-level change over the year that followed was only attributable to Facebook use. Implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.

‘Communication, Conflict and Risk in the 21st Century: Critical Issues for Sociology’

2003 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 65-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison Anderson
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Audience Research ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Critical Issues ◽  
The Media ◽  
Communication Conflict ◽  
Effects Of Media ◽  
Public Opposition

The recent war in Iraq has generated much discussion about the role of the news media in representing war. This piece calls for greater sociological intervention into this debate. In particular, it cautions against exaggerating the ideological effects of media propaganda on public attitudes to war. The decision to go to war generated unusually high levels of public opposition. In times of war it is commonplace for policymakers and military personnel to attack the media for bias and credit them with a determining influence on public opinion. However, this piece suggests that there is a need for greater critical engagement with developments in audience research. Also, current debates also exhibit considerable confusion over concepts of ‘objectivity’, ‘impartiality’ and ‘bias’. Recent sociological work reveals both the complexities arising from the ambiguity of concepts of ‘objectivity’ and ‘bias’, and the need for a more fine-grained approach towards media effects.

scholarly journals The conditional effects of the refugee crisis on immigration attitudes and nationalism

2021 ◽  
pp. 146511652098890
Author(s):  
Wouter van der Brug ◽  
Eelco Harteveld
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Central Eastern Europe ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Conditional Effects ◽  
Immigration Attitudes ◽  
The Impact

What was the impact of the 2014–2016 refugee crisis on immigration attitudes and national identification in Europe? Several studies show that radical right parties benefitted electorally from the refugee crisis, but research also shows that anti-immigration attitudes did not increase. We hypothesize that the refugee crisis affected right-wing citizens differently than left-wing citizens. We test this hypothesis by combining individual level survey data (from five Eurobarometer waves in the 2014–2016 period) with country level statistics on the asylum applications in 28 EU member states. In Western Europe, we find that increases in the number of asylum applications lead to a polarization of attitudes towards immigrants between left- and right-leaning citizens. In the Southern European ‘arrival countries’ and in Central-Eastern Europe we find no significant effects. Nationalistic attitudes are also not affected significantly.

scholarly journals News criteria on social media Comparing news media use of Facebook and Twitter

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jakob Linaa Jensen
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Mass Media ◽  
News Media ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Alternative Media ◽  
Traditional Media ◽  
Privileged Position ◽  
News Consumption ◽  
Media Organizations ◽  
Facebook Pages

The supply of news is larger than ever. However, traditional mass media are no longer in a privileged position as the exclusive gatekeepers of news; they face competition from alternative media, organizations and citizens who can produce and distribute news instantly through websites, blogs and social media. Furthermore, a significant share of news consumption is now based on links and stories appearing in users’ social media newsfeed. Every week, 56 percent of Danish citizens get news through social media that have become a major battleground for attention, clicks, viewers and readers (Schrøder et al. 2018). If traditional media are to retain attention and audience they have to play by social media logics.This article identifies and compares news criteria of social media posts shared on 25 Danish Twitter accounts and 25 Danish Facebook pages, representing exactly the same 25 news media actors. Hereby I investigate the criteria by which media frame their stories shared through social media and compare different uses and strategies on Facebook and Twitter.

A Panel Study on the Effects of Social Media Use and Internet Connectedness on Academic Performance and Social Support

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis Leung
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Academic Performance ◽  
Perceived Social Support ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Panel Study ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Level Change ◽  
Facebook Use

Using a longitudinal panel study approach, this research examined the effects of social media use and internet connectedness on academic performance and on perceived social support. Results showed that, after controlling demographics and overall grades at Time 1, individual-level change in overall grades over the year that followed was attributable to Facebook, blogs, and online game use but not to internet connectedness. Results suggest that heavy Facebook use has a positive effect on overall grades, while heavy use of blogs and online games leads to grade impairment. In the case of academic competence and perceived social support, individual-level change over the year that followed was only attributable to Facebook use. Implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.

scholarly journals Model Choices in Observational Media Effects Research: A Systematic Review and Validation

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Banducci ◽  
Martijn Schoonvelde ◽  
Daniel Stevens ◽  
Jennifer Jerit ◽  
Jason Barabas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Media Effects ◽  
Attitude Change ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Media Content ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Within Subjects ◽  
Effects Of Media ◽  
Election Studies ◽  
The Relationship

Media effects research has produced mixed findings about the size and direction of the relationship between media consumption and public attitudes (e.g., Bartels, 1993). We investigate the extent to which model choices contribute to these inconsistent findings. Taking a comparative approach, we first review the use of different models in contemporary studies and their main findings. In order to extend and validate this review, we consider the implications for national election studies attempting to measure media effects in election campaigns and recreate these models with the British Election Study 2005-10 panel data. We compare the direction and size of effects of media content on attitude change across: between-subjects, within- elections models, in which the effects of individual-level variance in media exposure and content are assessed; within-subjects, within-elections models, which compare the effects of variance in media content for the same individual; and within-subjects, between-elections models that allow us to analyze the links between media content and exposure with attitude change over time. Our review shows some notable differences between models in terms of significance of effects (but not effect sizes). We corroborate this finding in the British campaign analysis. We conclude that to check the robustness of claims of media effects in observational data, where possible researchers should examine different model choices when evaluating media effects.

How mainstream and alternative media shape public attitudes toward social change: Evidence from two panel studies during Malaysia’s democratic transition

2020 ◽  
pp. 146144482095435
Author(s):  
Hema Preya Selvanathan ◽  
Brian Lickel
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Democratic Transition ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Panel Study ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Alternative Media ◽  
Media Consumption ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Before And After

Mainstream and alternative media often frame key political events in divergent ways. The present research examined how mainstream and alternative media consumption was linked to public support for Bersih, a pro-democracy movement in Malaysia. We conducted a two-wave panel study before and after the Bersih 5 protests demanding electoral reform ( N = 422), and another two-wave panel study before and after the 14th General Elections which were historic in unseating the ruling government ( N = 386). Against mounting corruption, the two events were important to Malaysia’s democratic transition. Across both studies, alternative media consumption was linked to more positive attitudes toward the Bersih movement, especially among people who were strong supporters of the previous ruling government. Mainstream media did not play a consistent role in shaping attitudes toward the movement, nor was there evidence of backlash among government supporters. Thus, alternative media may have legitimized the cause for social change.

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