Maintainers of Ethnic Hierarchies? Investigating the Relationship Between Media Use and Attitudes Toward Perceived Remote Versus Perceived Close Immigration

Abstract

The immigration issue seems to have consolidated a top position on the European political agenda, and the body of literature devoted to explaining attitudes toward immigration continues to expand. Alongside established models focusing on threat perceptions as the central mechanism behind anti-immigration attitudes, increased attention has been paid to the role of media. The aim of the present study is to test the effects of media use on attitudes toward immigration from regions that are perceived to be remote versus those close to the host society. Moreover, the study goes beyond previous research by investigating reciprocal relationships between the use of specific media types and attitudes toward immigration. While the empirical findings suggest that the effects of using traditional news media is weak, right-wing alternative media appears more powerful in influencing immigration attitudes. Specifically, the results indicate that the use of right-wing alternative media reinforces negative attitudes toward perceived remote immigration. At the same time, the use of right-wing alternative media appears to stimulate more positive attitudes toward perceived close immigration. Further, reciprocal relationships were found between right-wing alternative media use and attitudes toward immigration.