Combined Forces: Thinking and/or Feeling? How News Consumption Affects Anti-Muslim Attitudes through Perceptions and Emotions about the Economy
| Published date | 01 May 2019 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032321718765696 |
| Author | Rens Vliegenthart,Mark Boukes,Laura Jacobs |
| Date | 01 May 2019 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/0032321718765696
Political Studies
2019, Vol. 67(2) 326 –347
© The Author(s) 2018
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DOI: 10.1177/0032321718765696
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Combined Forces: Thinking
and/or Feeling? How News
Consumption Affects Anti-
Muslim Attitudes through
Perceptions and Emotions
about the Economy
Laura Jacobs, Mark Boukes and
Rens Vliegenthart
Abstract
This study develops a model that contributes to our understanding of the complex relationship
between economic motivations and anti-Muslim attitudes by analyzing the underexplored role
of news consumption. Using a large-scale Dutch panel dataset (n = 2694), we test a structural
equation model theoretically grounded in group conflict theory, in which the relationship between
news consumption and anti-Muslim attitudes is mediated by perceptions and emotions about the
economy. Findings offer sound empirical support for the hypothesized model: news consumption
increases pessimistic economic perceptions and negative emotions about the economy, which in
turn strengthens anti-Muslim attitudes. The mechanism, however, largely depends on the type
of news outlet and genre: watching television seems more decisive than reading newspapers;
moreover, especially exposure to soft and popular news formats plays a dominant role.
Keywords
news consumption, anti-immigrant attitudes, economic motivations, structural equation
modeling, panel survey
Accepted: 26 February 2018
Introduction
In contemporary Western democracies, various outgroups become the target of hostile
attitudes. At present, Muslims are one of the most salient outgroups in multiple Western
Amsterdam School of Communication Research (ASCoR), University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam,
The Netherlands
Corresponding author:
Laura Jacobs, Amsterdam School of Communication Research (ASCoR), University of Amsterdam, Nieuwe
Achtergracht 166, 1018 WV Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Email: l.c.n.jacobs@uva.nl
765696PSX0010.1177/0032321718765696Political StudiesJacobs et al.
research-article2018
Article
Jacobs et al. 327
societies (Semyonov et al., 2006). A substantial body of literature shows that perceived
threat is a core determinant of negative attitudes toward outgroups (Dancygier and
Donnelly, 2013; Lancee and Pardos-Prado, 2013; Meuleman et al., 2009). Realistic group
conflict theory asserts that a major source of negative attitudes toward outgroups relates
to intergroup competition and struggles for scarce resources (Blalock, 1967; Blumer,
1958; Quillian, 1995). Previous research confirms that economic factors play a crucial
role in shaping these attitudes; subjective perceptions of the economy are especially deci-
sive (Citrin et al., 1997; Malhotra et al., 2013).
While it is widely acknowledged that economic motivations offer an explanation for
anti-outgroup attitudes, the origin of these motivations has attracted less scholarly atten-
tion. A significant source shaping economic motivations is news exposure (Boomgaarden
et al., 2011; Hagen, 2008). News about the economy is mainly negative in nature (Hester
and Gibson, 2003; Ju, 2008; Soroka, 2006), making news exposure a significant factor in
affecting citizens’ negative perceptions and emotions about the economy (De Boef and
Kellstedt, 2004; Hollanders and Vliegenthart, 2011; Lischka, 2015).
This study integrates prior insights by proposing a theoretical model aimed at increas-
ing our knowledge of the relationship between economic motivations and anti-outgroup
attitudes by bringing in the underexplored role of news consumption. The assumption is
that economic perceptions and emotions play a mediating role between news consump-
tion and attitudes toward outgroups: news consumption may evoke anti-outgroup atti-
tudes by fostering negative perceptions and emotions about the economy.
This study contributes to the debate on economic motivations’ role in explaining
hostile attitudes toward Muslims, who are considered a major outgroup in the Netherlands,
in several ways. In this way, we advance the understanding of why prejudice, which
presents one of the main worldwide challenges, occurs. First, we make a theoretical
contribution by arguing that with regard to attitudes toward Muslims the role of eco-
nomic threats should not be overlooked; in this regard, we examine the role of news
consumption as an understudied factor in explaining economic motivations of anti-
outgroup attitudes. Second, the study sheds light on the process through which news
consumption shapes economic perceptions and emotions, which in turn impacts citizens’
attitudes toward Muslims. Third, we not only assess general news exposure but also
focus on different outlet types (hard vs soft news; quality vs popular newspapers) as
these may have opposite effects (see Boukes and Boomgaarden, 2015; Jacobs et al.,
2016). Fourth, we test the relative role of news consumption in shaping attitudes, per-
ceptions, and emotions about the economy while controlling for individuals’ socioeco-
nomic positions and neighborhood characteristics. Hence, we investigate the interplay
between both cognitive and affective factors and take into account real-world indicators.
We use data from a three-wave panel study (n = 2694), which allows for the application
of detailed measurements of individual citizens’ media use, emotions, their socioeco-
nomic position and their anti-Muslim attitudes, and which disentangles the temporal
ordering of variables: this goes beyond a simple cross-sectional mediation analysis, even
while not being fully conclusive about causality.
Impact of News Consumption on Perceptions and Emotions about the
Economy
Journalists, in their traditional role as gatekeeper, rely on a set of news values (Galtung
and Ruge, 1965; Harcup and O’Neill, 2001) while selecting topics to cover from the
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