2011/04/24 by Glenn J. Hansen, Hyunjung Kim · 2 citations
Arts and Humanities · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Law #Media Influence and Health #Media Studies and Communication #Media bias #Meta-analysis #Political science #Politics #Psychology #Social Media and Politics #Social psychology
paper · doi:10.1080/08824096.2011.565280
openalex publication_date 2011/04/24 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
A considerable number of studies have provided empirical evidence of people's perception of media bias—the hostile media effect (HME). This study conducts a meta-analysis of 34 HME studies. HME, in which individuals perceive news coverage as biased against their own side, is observed in diverse contexts with a moderate effect size. Involvement is a moderating variable of the effect: The effect size was significantly higher as people became more involved with the topic. Nonetheless, the phenomenon also manifests under relatively low involvement conditions. The meta-analysis also indicates that there is no statistical evidence to suggest that the media format (e.g., newspaper or television) or study design (i.e., experimental or survey) moderates HME.