Abstract
Abstract Mass media have been accused of cultivating anti-immigrant sentiments in Western societies. Most studies on this topic, however, have not made a distinction between the types of television program (information vs. entertainment) or television station (public vs. commercial). Adopting a comparative approach, we use data from the six waves of the European Social Survey (ESS, 2002–2012, n = 162,987) to assess the relationship between individual and aggregate level patterns of television consumption and anti-immigrant sentiments in European societies. Individual television viewing time is positively associated with anti-immigrant sentiments, while frequent exposure to news and information programs is associated with lower levels of anti-immigrant sentiments. At the aggregate level we observe a positive effect of the total viewing time in society on anti-immigrant sentiments. In the conclusion we offer some suggestions on how this effect could be explained.
Highlights
The social impact of stereotyping in television content has been a topic for research for quite a while
Any study investigating the relationship between television consumption and attitudes should adopt a multidimensional approach: One can expect the relationship between television consumption and public opinion to be dependent upon the specific types of television programs and stations viewers prefer (Esser and de Vreese, 2007; Hooghe, 2002; Moeller and de Vreese, 2013; Newton, 1999; Prior, 2005)
If we consider the television variables at the aggregate level, we find in this model that H3 is confirmed: There is a positive effect of the market share of public broadcasting
Summary
The social impact of stereotyping in television content has been a topic for research for quite a while. They found in an individual-level analysis that a preference for public news was associated with lower levels of anti-immigrant sentiments compared to a preference for commercial news This is in line with evidence stating that other types of civic attitudes and behavior are more closely related to watching public broadcasting television, and we will test whether this assumption holds. This leads to our third hypothesis: H3: Large market shares for public broadcasting television is negatively associated with anti-immigrant sentiments These effects are not just situated at the individual level, and on a society level. A design weight was applied in order to correct for differences in the selection probability of individuals in the population
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