Neutral news from in- and out-party media and attitudes toward them: integration of expectancy violations theory and hostile media perceptions

ABSTRACT

The contemporary U.S. media environment is characterized by a strong partisan divide. Both Democrats and Republicans express strong distrust in oppositional media and accuse them of showing partisan bias. Clearly, this public opinion climate is not helpful to a healthy democracy. Unlike the common wisdom, these news outlets do provide neutral political coverage. Based on propositions from expectancy violation theory and hostile media perceptions, we test the effects of exposure to neutral news from an out-party outlet on violation interpretation and attitudes toward oppositional media. An online experiment (N = 610) shows that exposure to neutral news from an out-party outlet leads to violation unexpectedness and valence for Democrats and violation valence for Republicans. We also find an indirect positive effect of exposure to neutral news on attitudes toward an out-party outlet through violation valence for Democrats and Republicans. Unlike what can be expected of hostile media perceptions, these effects are more noticeable for stronger partisans. Our study also reveals different patterns of partisan reactions to neutral news from in-party outlets. Theoretical implications are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Expectancy violation theory
• partisan media
• polarization
• hostile media perceptions

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

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Additional information

Funding

This project was supported by the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences FLASH Grant Program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Notes on contributors

Weina Ran

Weina Ran (Ph.D., Washington State University, 2014) is a lecturer of Communication & Media at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Her research interests include the effects of media multitasking, media effects on public health, and persuasion in entertainment education.

Masahiro Yamamoto

Masahiro Yamamoto (Ph.D., Washington State University, 2012) is an associate professor in the Department of Communication at the University at Albany, State University of New York. His research interests include communication in community contexts, civic and political participation, and social media.