In the Eye of the Beholder: A Case for the Visual Hostile Media Phenomenon

The hostile media phenomenon (HMP) refers to a process in which supporters and opponents of an issue perceive the identical coverage to be biased against their own views. Despite the relevance of visual communication in our field, scholars have treated hostile media perceptions as a text-based pheno...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inCommunication research Vol. 50; no. 7; pp. 879 - 903
Main Authors Matthes, Jörg, Schmuck, Desirée, von Sikorski, Christian
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.10.2023
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects
Pictures
Visual fields
Israel
hostile media phenomenon
visual communication
media bias
pictures
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Summary:The hostile media phenomenon (HMP) refers to a process in which supporters and opponents of an issue perceive the identical coverage to be biased against their own views. Despite the relevance of visual communication in our field, scholars have treated hostile media perceptions as a text-based phenomenon ignoring the unique role of visuals. This paper makes the case for a visual hostile media phenomenon (VHMP). The VHMP posits that completely balanced pictures are perceived as biased both by opponents and supporters of an issue. Two experimental studies on the Israel–Palestine conflict provide clear evidence for this reasoning. Study 1 shows that Palestine (Israel) supporters perceived a balanced photo series as biased toward Israel (Palestine) irrespective of the series’ reach. This effect was also visible for clearly slanted pro-Israel and pro-Palestine pictures (i.e., relative VHMP). Study 2 replicates these findings and sheds some first light on the underlying mechanism. Theoretical and methodological implications are discussed.
ISSN:0093-6502
1552-3810
DOI:10.1177/00936502211018596