The Subconscious Effect of Subtle Media Bias on Perceptions of Terrorism
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6179999 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Lukas Feick (0000-0002-1449-5441, University of Konstanz), Karsten Donnay (0000-0002-9080-6539, University of Zurich, corresponding author), K T Mccabe (0000-0001-9183-2918, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 49 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 313-318 |
| Publication date | 2021-05-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Politics Research (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1532-673X • E-ISSN: 1552-3373 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/1532673x20972105 |
| OpenAlex | W3106948264 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 10 |
| References cited | 21 |
Media outlets strategically frame news about violent events using sensationalist labels such as “terrorist” or “Islamist” but also more subtle wording choices that affect the overall article tone. We argue theoretically and show empirically using a conjoint experiment that, contrary to existing studies, the effect of these two framing devices on readers’ perceptions of terrorist events should be carefully separated. Even though article tone transports no factual information, in our experiment negative and sensational wording choices carried a greater impact on threat perceptions than the explicit “terrorist” and “Islamist” labels. In a realistic news article setting, which varied other salient context cues such as proximity or event size, subtle shifts in article tone still subconsciously influenced threat perceptions. This highlights the potential dangers of media coverage fueling otherwise unjustified fears by injecting unnecessary editorial tone
Advertising · Business · Framing effect · Headline · Media bias · Perception · Persuasion · Political science · Politics · Salient · Sensationalism · Subconscious · Terrorism · History · Law · Media Influence and Health · Misinformation and Its Impacts · Psychology · Social Psychology · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence
Media Bias
Revealing Media Bias in News Articles
Biased Social Media Debates About Terrorism? A Content Analysis of Journalistic Coverage of and Audience Reactions to Terrorist Attacks on YouTube
When enough is enough
Isolated, apolitical and tragic”
Synthetic biology/AI convergence (SynBioAI)
Neutral or Framed? A Sentiment Analysis of 2019 Abortion Laws
Climate Change and Terrorism News
How is automated and self-driving vehicle technology presented in the news media
Is terrorism necessarily violent? Public perceptions of nonviolence and terrorism in conflict settings
(In)direct Framing Effects
Crowdsourcing a Word–emotion Association Lexicon
Validating vignette and conjoint survey experiments against real-world behavior
Framing terror
What Does the “Terrorist” Label Really Do? Measuring and Explaining the Effects of the “Terrorist” and “Islamist” Categories
It can happen here
Affective News
Causal Inference in Conjoint Analysis
Echoes of Vietnam
How the Public Defines Terrorism
Framing Theory
Terrorism and the media
The media and terrorism
Effects of Political Framing and Perceiver's Social Position on Trait Attributions of a Terrorist/Freedom Fighter
Metaphors Matter
| Unique citing works | 10 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2,5 |
| Citation span | 2022 - 2026 (5) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 9 |