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Abstract
This study investigated how Muslims perceive negative news coverage of Islam and how these perceptions possibly contribute to radicalization processes. Utilizing qualitative interviews with former Islamists, Study 1 indicated that radicalized Muslims perceive a governmental infiltration of the media resulting in negative content. Analyses indicate that perceptual phenomena (hostile media, third person), negation, and anger play an important role in radicalization processes. We built on these findings in Study 2, utilizing a laboratory experiment in which Muslims were exposed to negative news content. Indeed, Muslims engaged in negation, perceived news as hostile, and perceived strong effects on non-Muslim Germans. These effects were stronger among Muslims with religious fundamentalist beliefs. Interestingly, negative news elicited anger, independent of such fundamentalist beliefs.
Notes
1 Pearson correlation between negation and anger was substantial, r(192) = .43, p < .001.
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Notes on contributors
Katharina Neumann
Katharina Neumann (M.A., LMU Munich, 2014) is a research associate in the Department of Communication Studies and Media Research at LMU Munich. Her research interests include media effects on extremists.
Florian Arendt
Florian Arendt (Ph.D., University of Vienna, 2013) is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Studies and Media Research at LMU Munich. Her research interests include health communication and empirical methods.
Philip Baugut
Philip Baugut (Ph.D., LMU Munich, 2016) is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Studies and Media Research at LMU Munich. His research interests include political communication and media effects on extremists.