Network news and racial beliefs: Exploring the connection between national television news exposure and stereotypical perceptions of African Americans

A random survey of nonstudent adult residents was undertaken to determine whether exposure to network news has a demonstrable effect on racial attitudes and perceptions of African Americans. After controlling for a number of factors, results revealed that exposure to network news depressed estimates of African American income. In addition, network news exposure increased the endorsement of African American stereotypes, particularly the view that African Americans were poor and intimidating, and was positively associated with higher racism scores. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. doi:10.1111/j. 1460-2466.2008.00387.x A growing body of research has begun to examine the content and effects of racial stereotypes on U.S. television news programming. Many of these studies have been dedicated to investigations of race and crime imagery featured on local television news programs. The vast majority of that work has reached two major conclusions. First, people of color are often associated with criminality on local news programs Although important, much less attention has been focused on television network news programming with regard to African American stereotypes Work that was conducted by Gilens (1996a) replicated the finding that African Americans were overwhelmingly associated with poverty. His content analysis revealed that network news overrepresents the number of African American poor, particularly those who are of working able-bodied ages. Other work by However, the most notable recent studies of television network programming have been undertaken by Network news, stereotypes, and modern racism Taken together, the scholarship reviewed above suggests that African Americans typically occupy roles as poor people, loud politicians, and criminals on network news. Some scholars have observed that such portrayals could lead to two outcomes: (a) the endorsement of African American stereotypes (regarding poverty and laziness) and (b) an increase in modern racism. Modern racism has three components including: (a) anti-African American affect or a general emotional hostility toward African Americans, (b) resistance to the political demands of African Americans, and (c) the belief that racism is dead and that racial discrimination no longer inhibits African American achievement In summary, scholars have concluded that television news programming may be related to the perception that African Americans are poor and unintelligent, and exposure to this programming may also predict racism against African Americans. However, there are a number of limitations of the prior studies. First, almost all the empirical studies have relied on student samples to investigate this topic. It is possible that a nonstudent adult sample might behave differently from a student sample due to demand characteristics and the attributes of the samples Hypotheses and research questions The current study seeks to extend the prior work conducted in this area by doing three things. First, this study employs a nonstudent sample. Second, this study attempts to directly test the impact of exposure to network versus local television news. Third, this study attempts to empirically test whether exposure to network news predicts modern racism. Three hypotheses are tested. H1: Exposure to television network news will be negatively associated with estimations of Black income. Prior research has found that African Americans are associated with poverty and blue-collar jobs on network television news. In addition, prior research has found that general exposure to television news is associated with lower estimates of African Americans' socioeconomic status. An increase in exposure to network television images should lead to a decrease in the estimates of Black income. Prior research has found that nonfictional portrayals of African Americans are associated with negative perceptions and stereotypes of Blacks. These include the perception of Blacks as hostile and demanding T. L. Dixon Network News and Racial Beliefs H3: Exposure to television network news will be positively associated with modern racism. Based on the research noted above, at least two of the components of modern racism appear to be connected to network news programming. First, network news provides content that might fuel anti-African American sentiment by portraying African Americans as lazy and dependent on governmental programs. Second, resistance to African American political issues might be related to exposure to news programming featuring loud African American politicians who appear to be making unreasonable demands. Each of these factors suggests that exposure to network news portrayals might predict modern racism Method Telephone surveys were conducted in the county of Los Angeles, CA. Los Angeles was chosen as the location for the survey because prior work has demonstrated that it is a diverse area and an area that features news programming with biased depictions of race Respondents A total of 506 respondents took part in the survey. The cooperation rate was 60%. 1 The final sample was 58% female and 42% male. In addition, the sample was 43% White, 16% African American, 26% Latino, and 15% Other. A complete breakdown , 2003b). Moreover, the large diversity of this sample is a benefit given the lack of sample diversity in a number of prior studies of news and race Control variables All the measures used in the current study have been used, validated, or derived from a number of prior media effects studies Gender Interviewers identified the gender of respondents. Males were coded as 0 and females were coded as 1. Age Respondents were asked how old they were in years (M = 41.36, SD = 17.96). Education Educational attainment was assessed on a 1-11 scale (eighth grade or less, some high school, high school graduate, trade or vocational school, 1-2 years of college, AA or AS degree, 3-4 years of college, college graduate BA, 5-6 years of college, master's degree, and graduate work past master's degree; M = 5.94, SD = 2.69). Political ideology/conservatism Respondents were asked about their political ideology or conservatism on a 1 (strongly liberal) to 7 (strongly conservative) scale (M = 4.23, SD = 1.78). Income Respondents were asked their total household income on a 1-7 scale (less than 3