Are Unidentified Terrorist Suspects Always Muslims? How Terrorism News Shape News Consumers’ Automatic Activation of Muslims as Perpetrators
Two experimental studies investigated how news reports about terrorist attacks committed by unidentified perpetrators influence beliefs about the perpetrators and Muslims in general. In Study 1, a quota-based sample of 354 Germans was exposed to terror news coverage describing either non-Muslim or M...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2018-09-01
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| Series: | Religions |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/9/10/286 |
| _version_ | 1811234581479686144 |
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| author | Desirée Schmuck Jörg Matthes Christian von Sikorski Nicole Materne Ekata Shah |
| author_facet | Desirée Schmuck Jörg Matthes Christian von Sikorski Nicole Materne Ekata Shah |
| author_sort | Desirée Schmuck |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Two experimental studies investigated how news reports about terrorist attacks committed by unidentified perpetrators influence beliefs about the perpetrators and Muslims in general. In Study 1, a quota-based sample of 354 Germans was exposed to terror news coverage describing either non-Muslim or Muslim victims with no reference to the perpetrators of the attacks. Upon stimulus exposure, participants were asked the likelihood that the perpetrators were either Islamist extremists, far-right extremists, or lone operators. In Study 2, no information about the victims was provided, but the perpetrators were either Muslims or unidentified. In addition, we measured news consumers’ Islamophobic attitudes in both studies. Results from Study 1 revealed that participants attributed perpetrator-unidentified attacks to Islamist perpetrators when the victims were non-Muslims. In contrast, terrorist attacks directed against Muslim victims were more likely to be attributed to far-right extremists. Additionally, Study 2 revealed that news consumers associated perpetrator-unidentified terrorist attacks with Islamist extremists to an equal degree as terrorist attacks that were committed by Muslim perpetrators. Attributing the attack to Islamists was in turn significantly related to Islamophobic attitudes in both studies. Implications of these findings for journalism practice and society at large are discussed. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T11:39:58Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-883ebca5a98a4692a8b419a47b64c594 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2077-1444 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T11:39:58Z |
| publishDate | 2018-09-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Religions |
| spelling | doaj.art-883ebca5a98a4692a8b419a47b64c5942022-12-22T03:34:43ZengMDPI AGReligions2077-14442018-09-0191028610.3390/rel9100286rel9100286Are Unidentified Terrorist Suspects Always Muslims? How Terrorism News Shape News Consumers’ Automatic Activation of Muslims as PerpetratorsDesirée Schmuck0Jörg Matthes1Christian von Sikorski2Nicole Materne3Ekata Shah4Department of Communication, University of Vienna, Währinger Straße 29, 1090 Vienna, AustriaDepartment of Communication, University of Vienna, Währinger Straße 29, 1090 Vienna, AustriaDepartment of Communication, University of Vienna, Währinger Straße 29, 1090 Vienna, AustriaDepartment of Communication, University of Vienna, Währinger Straße 29, 1090 Vienna, AustriaDepartment of Communication, University of Vienna, Währinger Straße 29, 1090 Vienna, AustriaTwo experimental studies investigated how news reports about terrorist attacks committed by unidentified perpetrators influence beliefs about the perpetrators and Muslims in general. In Study 1, a quota-based sample of 354 Germans was exposed to terror news coverage describing either non-Muslim or Muslim victims with no reference to the perpetrators of the attacks. Upon stimulus exposure, participants were asked the likelihood that the perpetrators were either Islamist extremists, far-right extremists, or lone operators. In Study 2, no information about the victims was provided, but the perpetrators were either Muslims or unidentified. In addition, we measured news consumers’ Islamophobic attitudes in both studies. Results from Study 1 revealed that participants attributed perpetrator-unidentified attacks to Islamist perpetrators when the victims were non-Muslims. In contrast, terrorist attacks directed against Muslim victims were more likely to be attributed to far-right extremists. Additionally, Study 2 revealed that news consumers associated perpetrator-unidentified terrorist attacks with Islamist extremists to an equal degree as terrorist attacks that were committed by Muslim perpetrators. Attributing the attack to Islamists was in turn significantly related to Islamophobic attitudes in both studies. Implications of these findings for journalism practice and society at large are discussed.http://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/9/10/286terrorismnews coverageIslamMuslimIslamophobia |
| spellingShingle | Desirée Schmuck Jörg Matthes Christian von Sikorski Nicole Materne Ekata Shah Are Unidentified Terrorist Suspects Always Muslims? How Terrorism News Shape News Consumers’ Automatic Activation of Muslims as Perpetrators Religions terrorism news coverage Islam Muslim Islamophobia |
| title | Are Unidentified Terrorist Suspects Always Muslims? How Terrorism News Shape News Consumers’ Automatic Activation of Muslims as Perpetrators |
| title_full | Are Unidentified Terrorist Suspects Always Muslims? How Terrorism News Shape News Consumers’ Automatic Activation of Muslims as Perpetrators |
| title_fullStr | Are Unidentified Terrorist Suspects Always Muslims? How Terrorism News Shape News Consumers’ Automatic Activation of Muslims as Perpetrators |
| title_full_unstemmed | Are Unidentified Terrorist Suspects Always Muslims? How Terrorism News Shape News Consumers’ Automatic Activation of Muslims as Perpetrators |
| title_short | Are Unidentified Terrorist Suspects Always Muslims? How Terrorism News Shape News Consumers’ Automatic Activation of Muslims as Perpetrators |
| title_sort | are unidentified terrorist suspects always muslims how terrorism news shape news consumers automatic activation of muslims as perpetrators |
| topic | terrorism news coverage Islam Muslim Islamophobia |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/9/10/286 |
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