How media coverage of technologies affects public opinion: Evidence from alternative fuel vehicles in Germany

Abstract

This paper finds that positive media coverage has a positive effect on individual attitudes towards alternative fuel vehicle (AFV) technologies. The study matches an automated text analysis of six German newspapers from 2018 - 2020 (n = 7,805 articles) with a representative novel survey dataset of citizens in large German cities (n = 1,776). For battery-electric vehicles (BEV), as the most covered technology in the articles, a multiple regression model shows that greater media exposure to predominantly positive articles leads to more positive attitudes. Attitudes towards BEV and hydrogen cars show a low positive correlation, which is in line with the way these technologies are depicted in media, where they are repeatedly presented as competing technologies. To account for the demonstrated effects of widespread media coverage on technology attitudes in this study, transitions scholars and policymakers should pay particular attention to who influences such media messages and to what end.