Mass media, stereotypes, and Islam: Processes and effects of stereotypic Islam-coverage on Muslims in Germany.

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Hans-Bernd Brosius, since 11/2018
• Subject Area: Communication Sciences
• Term: from 2015 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 280325936

News stories about the concepts 'Islam, Islamization, Islamism, and Muslims' is characterized by a negative valence. Pictures of collapsing skyscrapers, beheading videos, or the Charlie Habdo shooting are in part responsible that there is a consistent and cumulative pairing with negatively-valenced attributes. Such pairings are called media-stereotypes. Previous research shows that exposure to media stereotypes can have effects on beliefs, prejudice, and discriminatory behavior. However, empirical studies focused on the effects of stereotypic content on members of the majority society. In these studies, researchers investigated the effects of stereotypic news coverage toward 'outgroups' (e.g., Muslims) on 'ingroup'-individuals (e.g., Non-Muslims). This focus has been criticized and coupled with a call for a broadening of the perspective (Mastro, 2009). Unfortunately, there is very limited knowledge with regard to the effects of stereotypic news coverage on members of the stereotyped group. Is there an effect of exposure to negative news coverage on feelings of connectedness with Germany, Islam, or central democratic values (e.g., freedom of opinion)? Does exposure reduce self-esteem? Does the negative news coverage under the (perceived?) control of the majority society increase the willingness to raise the voice (or even raise the fists) in favor of the politically abused Islam(ism)? This project will contribute to the answering of these questions. The project is based on two pillars. The first pillar focuses on a content analysis of the actual news coverage and a survey. The content analysis should identify those attributes, which are used to label the concepts of 'Islam, Islamization, Islamism, and Muslims'. The two-wave panel survey should test the relationship between the reading of specific news outlets and prejudiced beliefs and attitudes. This pillar follows a cultivation (Gerbner & Gross, 1976) and attribute-agenda-setting (McCombs, 2005) logic. The utilization of a panel design is necessary to test reciprocal effects (Slater, 2007). The second pillar utilizes two experimental studies, which increase the confidence into the causal interpretation of the effects found in the panel survey. It should be tested whether exposure to stereotypic news coverage influences attitudes and behavioral intentions (Experiment 1) and whether attitudinal predispositions influence media choice (Experiment 2). The consideration of implicit cognition (i.e., automatically activated thoughts and feelings) as a supplement to explicit cognition (i.e., overtly expressed thoughts and feelings) should enable a thorough understanding of media stereotype effects (Arendt, 2013a).

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Ehemaliger Antragsteller: Dr. Florian Arendt, until 11/2018