Underlying motivations for belief in media bias

This study investigates the social psychological motivations underlying the formation of a hostile media bias, whereby partisan groups perceive media coverage as unfavourable to their own point of view. Pro-gay (n = 69), and anti-gay (n = 53), partisan group members read a written report on the issue of gay marriage and parenting, and were randomly assigned to have this information presented as a student essay, an article from a low-reach newspaper, or an article from a high-reach newspaper. As predicted, evidence for hostile bias was found only in the context of the media, and partisans tended to assimilate towards rather than contrast to the same information when it was presented as a student essay. Contrary to expectations, the newspaper article of low potential reach was associated with greater hostility than the newspaper article of high potential reach. There was therefore little support for the theory that perceptions of media hostility are driven by partisans’ concerns over the potential reach and influence the information may have on others. It is instead suggested that perceptions of hostile media bias can be explained in terms of the perceived integrity and trustworthiness of the source, and the ingroup/outgroup status of the author