In the eye of the beholder
- Author(s)
- Jörg Matthes, Desiree Schmuck, Christian von Sikorski
- Abstract
The hostile media phenomenon (HMP) refers to a process in which supporters and opponents of an issue perceive the identical coverage to be biased against their own views. Despite the relevance of visual communication in our field, scholars have treated hostile media perceptions as a text-based phenomenon ignoring the unique role of visuals. This paper makes the case for a visual hostile media phenomenon (VHMP). The VHMP posits that completely balanced pictures are perceived as biased both by opponents and supporters of an issue. Two experimental studies on the Israel–Palestine conflict provide clear evidence for this reasoning. Study 1 shows that Palestine (Israel) supporters perceived a balanced photo series as biased toward Israel (Palestine) irrespective of the series’ reach. This effect was also visible for clearly slanted pro-Israel and pro-Palestine pictures (i.e., relative VHMP). Study 2 replicates these findings and sheds some first light on the underlying mechanism. Theoretical and methodological implications are discussed.
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Communication
- External organisation(s)
- Universität Koblenz-Landau
- Journal
- Communication Research (CR)
- Volume
- 50
- Pages
- 879-903
- No. of pages
- 25
- ISSN
- 0093-6502
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502211018596
- Publication date
- 2021
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 508007 Communication science, 508014 Journalism
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Communication, Language and Linguistics, Linguistics and Language
- Portal url
- https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/en/publications/in-the-eye-of-the-beholder(c3a8b5ba-cd0a-4970-8aa9-01d3f49909d0).html