HME文献14 A self-categorization explanation for the hostile media effect.pdfVIP

Journal of Communication ISSN 0021-9916 O R I G I N A L A R T I C L E A Self-Categorization Explanation for the Hostile Media Effect Scott A. Reid Department of Communication, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-4020, USA The hostile media effect is a phenomenon in which partisans on both sides of an issue perceive neutral media reports to be biased against their side. Three experiments were performed to test a self-categorization explanation. In Experiment 1, the effect was amplified when partisan identity was salient and attenuated when a shared identity was salient. In Experiment 2, the effect manifested when the media source was an outgroup, but not an ingroup. In Experiment 3, an attack on Democrats was perceived as less biased when attributed to a Democrat than when attributed to a Republican. The effects in Experiments 2 and 3 were amplified by partisanship. The findings are consistent with self-categorization theory and difficult to reconcile with other explanations. doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2012.01647.x Balanced media content is often perceived as biased. A particularly striking example is found in the hostile media effect (Vallone, Ross, Lepper, 1985), a phenomenon in which partisans on both sides of an issue perceive the same content as biased against their side. In the first empirical demonstration, Vallone et al. (1985) presented partisans with TV news coverage of the 1982 massacres of Muslim refugees by Christian militias in Lebanon. Both pro-Israeli and pro-Arab partisans perceived the reports as biased, perceived more unfavorable than favorable references to their side, and believed that upon viewing the content, neutral observers would become sympathetic to the opposition. There is much evidence for the hostile media effect. Vallone et al.’s (1985) study has been r