title: News exposure predicts anti-Muslim prejudice.
abstract: News coverage of Islamic extremism is reigniting debates about the media's role in promoting prejudice toward Muslims. Psychological theories of media-induced prejudice date to the 1950's, and find support from controlled experiments. However, national-scale studies of media effects on Muslim prejudice are lacking. Orthogonal research investigating media-induced prejudice toward immigrants has failed to establish any link. Moreover, it has been found that people interpret the news in ways that confirm pre-existing attitudes, suggesting that media induced Muslim prejudice in liberal democracies is unlikely. Here, we test the association between news exposure and anti-Muslim prejudice in a diverse national sample from one of the world's most tolerant societies, where media effects are least likely to hold (N = 16,584, New Zealand). In support of media-induced Islamophobia, results show that greater news exposure is associated with both increased anger and reduced warmth toward Muslims. Additionally, the relationship between media exposure and anti-Muslim prejudice does not reliably vary with political ideology, supporting claims that it is widespread representations of Muslims in the news, rather than partisan media biases, that drives anti-Muslim prejudice.
authors.affiliation: Religion Programme, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
authors.forename: John H
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9522-4765
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Shaver
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Chris G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Sibley
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Danny
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Osborne
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bulbulia
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000786:Anger; D001290:Attitude; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007514:Islam; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009520:New Zealand; D011287:Prejudice; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors