the hostile media effect, originally deemed the hostile media phenomenon and sometimes called hostile media perception, is a perceptual theory of mass communication that refers to the finding that people with strong biases toward an issue (partisans) perceive media coverage as biased against their opinions, regardless of the reality. proponents of the hostile media effect argue that this finding cannot be attributed to the presence of bias in the news reports, since partisans from opposing sides of an issue perceive the same coverage differently.vallone, r.p., ross, l., & lepper, m.r. (1985). the hostile media phenomenon: biased perception and perceptions of media bias in coverage of the "beirut massacre". journal of personality and social psychology, 49, 577-585. summary. the hostile media effect illustrates notions of the active media audience, in demonstrating that audiences do not passively receive media content but instead selectively interpret it in light of their own values and predispositions. despite some journalists' best intentions to report news in a fair and objective way, partisans are motivated to see neutral content as harboring a hostile bias. the phenomenon was first proposed and studied experimentally by robert vallone, lee ross and mark lepper.vallone, r.e., lepper, m.r., & ross, l. (1981). perceptions of media bias in the 1980 presidential election. unpublished manuscript, stanford university. as cited in vallone, ross & lepper, 1985. ==studies== in 1982, the first major study of this phenomenon was undertaken; pro-palestinian students and pro-israeli students at stanford university were shown the same news filmstrips pertaining to the then-recent sabra and shatila massacre of palestinian refugees by christian lebanese militia fighters abetted by the israeli army in beirut during the lebanese civil war. on a number of objective measures, both sides found that these identical news clips were slanted in favor of the other side. pro-israeli students reported seeing more anti-israel references and fewer favorable references to israel in the news report and pro-palestinian students reported seeing more anti-palestinian references, and so on. both sides said a neutral observer would have a more negative view of their side from viewing the clips, and that the media would have excused the other side where it blamed their side. subsequent studies have found hostile media effects related to other political conflicts, such as strife in bosnia matheson, k. & dursun, s. (2001). social identity precursors to the hostile media phenomenon: partisan perceptions of coverage of the bosnian conflict group processes and intergrou
Cognitive_biases Criticism_of_journalism Framing_(social_sciences) Journalism_standards