Why are “others” so polarized? Perceived political polarization and media use in 10 countries.

Yang, J.; Rojas, H.; Wojcieszak, M.; Aalberg, T; Coen, S.; Curran, James P.; Iyengar, S; Hayashi, K.; Jones, P.K.; Mazzoleni, G.; Papathanassopoulos, S.; Rhee, J.W.; Rowe, D; Soroka, S. and Tiffen,, R.. 2016. Why are “others” so polarized? Perceived political polarization and media use in 10 countries. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 21(5), pp. 349-367. [Article]

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Abstract or Description

This study tests the associations between news media use and perceived political polarization, conceptualized as citizens’ beliefs about partisan divides among major political parties. Relying on representative surveys in Canada, Colombia, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Norway, United Kingdom and United States, we test whether perceived polarization is related to the use of television news, newspaper, radio news, and online news media. Data show that online news consumption is systematically and consistently related to perceived polarization, but not to attitude polarization, understood as individual attitude extremity. In contrast, the relationships between traditional media use and perceived and attitude polarization is mostly country dependent. An explanation of these findings based on exemplification is proposed and tested in an experimental design.

Item Type:

Article

Identification Number (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1111/jcc4.12166

Keywords:

Political Polarization, Perceived Polarization, Internet, News, Exemplification

Related URLs:

Departments, Centres and Research Units:

Media, Communications and Cultural Studies
Media, Communications and Cultural Studies > Goldsmiths Leverhulme Media Research Centre

Dates:

DateEvent
28 May 2016Accepted
13 September 2016Published

Item ID:

19147

Date Deposited:

09 Nov 2016 15:07

Last Modified:

29 Apr 2020 16:21

Peer Reviewed:

Yes, this version has been peer-reviewed.

URI:

https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/19147

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