The Hostile Media Effect and Its Potential Consequences: Examining the Influence of Presumed Influence of International Media Coverage

The purpose of this study is to explore American and Chinese\u27s perception towards foreign media\u27s coverage about their own country, as well as the main influencing factors and its consequences of this phenomenon. We designed an online survey based on the existing literature on hostile media perception. The sample included 301 American participants and 300 Chinese participants (N=601). The current study used paired sample T test, Pearson correlation coefficient and SEM model test. Three important results were found. First, hostile media perception is widespread. In the study, both American and Chinese participants were biased to varying degrees against foreign media coverage about their country. Second, people\u27s group identification was directly affects their perception about foreign media coverage. Finally, people\u27s acceptance of the influence of foreign media\u27s reports on their own countries will directly lead to participants\u27 support the government increase the budget on public relationship. The main significance of this study is to discuss the hostile media perception towards non-domestic media in different countries and its consequences. From the overall perspective, group identification (GI), media credibility (MC), hostile media perception (HMP), influence of presumed influence (IPI) and corrective action (A) are a set of links with causal relationship. After model testing, we found that the results support this model too