A vicious cycle? Threat of terror, perceived media bias, and support for surveillance policies

Autor(en)

Ruta Kaskeleviciute, Jörg Matthes

Abstrakt

Islamist terrorist attacks and existing terror threat can seriously affect intergroup relations and policy making. Drawing on hostile media effect theory and intergroup threat theory, we hypothesized that perceived threat of terror influences perceived news media bias in favor of Muslims as well as support for surveillance policies that are perceived to be restrictive for Muslims. In addition, we assumed that media bias positively predicts surveillance policy support. Results of a quota-based two-wave panel survey (N-T2 = 524) revealed that perceived threat of terror increased perceived media bias in favor of Muslims over time, but did not have a direct effect over time on support for surveillance policies. However, perceived media bias was found to be a positive predictor of support for surveillance policies over time. In addition, support for policies was a positive predictor of perceived terror threat over time, suggesting a vicious cycle.

Organisation(en)

Institut für Publizistik- und Kommunikationswissenschaft

Journal

Mass Communication and Society

Band

26

Seiten

463-485

Anzahl der Seiten

23

ISSN

1520-5436

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1080/15205436.2022.2052903

Publikationsdatum

2021

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

508007 Kommunikationswissenschaft

Schlagwörter

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Communication

Link zum Portal

https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/de/publications/a-vicious-cycle-threat-of-terror-perceived-media-bias-and-support-for-surveillance-policies(126c89f3-109d-401a-9836-e5ebe06d1fe8).html