HME文献27 Perceived Hostile Media Bias, Presumed Media Influence, and Opinions About Immigrants and Immigration.pdfVIP

Southern Communication Journal Vol. 77, No. 5, November–December 2012, pp. 420–437 Perceived Hostile Media Bias, Presumed Media Influence, and Opinions About Immigrants and Immigration Brooke Weberling McKeever, Daniel Riffe, Francesca Dillman Carpentier This study explores hostile media bias and third-person perceptions of the influence of media coverage of immigrants using data (N ¼ 529) from North Carolina, where the Latino population grew almost 400% in two decades. As hypothesized, anti-immigrant sentiment was significantly related to perceptions of ‘‘hostile’’ (pro-immigrant) news coverage. However, anti-immigrant sentiment was not directly related to belief in coverage effects on others. Analysis revealed two ‘‘paths’’ for relationships among anti- immigrant sentiment, exposure and attention to media coverage, perceived media bias, and presumed media influence or third-person perceptions. Latinos in the southern United States in 1990 represented less than 2% of the population (Lynn, 2008, p. 7), but the Latino population grew 394% in North Carolina between 1990 and 2000 (North Carolina Institute of Medicine, 2003). Although the state’s 2007 percentage (7%) was below the 15.1% for the United States as a whole, it dwarfed 2000’s 4.7% and 1990’s 1.04% for the state (U.S. Census Bureau, 2009). The state’s Latino population grew an additional 2.6% since 2006, though the national rate has slowed since then (Ohlemacher, 2008; Pew Hispanic Center, 2008). Brooke Weberling McKeever, School of Journalism and Mass Communications, University of South Carolina. Daniel Riffe, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Francesca Dillman Carpentier, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Correspondence to: