How news content influences anti‐immigration attitudes: Germany, 1993–2005

Abstract

Immigration is an increasingly important political issue in Western democracies and a crucial question relates to the antecedents of public attitudes towards immigrants. It is generally acknowledged that information relayed through the mass media plays a role in the formation of anti‐immigration attitudes. This study considers whether news coverage of immigrants and immigration issues relates to macro‐level dynamics of anti‐immigration attitudes. It further explores whether this relationship depends on variation in relevant real world contexts. The models simultaneously control for the effects of established contextual explanatory variables. Drawing on German monthly time‐series data and on ARIMA time‐series modeling techniques, it is shown that both the frequency and the tone of coverage of immigrant actors in the news significantly influence dynamics in anti‐immigration attitudes. The strength of the effect of the news, however, depends on contextual variation in immigration levels and the number of asylum seekers. Implications of these findings are discussed in the light of the increasing success of extreme right parties and growing opposition to further European integration.

Adapting to party lines: the effect of party affiliation on attitudes to immigration

“…Brader et al 2008;Sniderman et al 2004) and media content (e.g. Boomgaarden and Vliegenthart 2009;Schemer 2012), surprisingly few studies have explored how political parties affect the formation of anti-immigrant attitudes. Brader et al (2008) note that 'we know little about the effects of political discourse' on anti-immigrant attitudes.…”

“…Research has established that citizens' views on societal issues are not exogenous to their political preferences (Boomgaarden and Vliegenthart 2009;Lenz 2009). In the words of Steenbergen et al (2007: 17), 'citizens take cues from political elites, including party leaders, and adjust their views to be more in line with those elites' .…”

Framing the Refugee Crisis in Online Media: A Romanian Perspective

“…Positive references to refugees in the media are often associated with less concern about immigration among people (Berry et al, 2016;Boomgaarden & Vliegenthart, 2009). In other words, the media coverage of sensitive topics (such as the refugee crisis) might explain the shifts in public opinions and attitudes, and might give some clues about the emergence and development of decisions and behaviors at a societal level (e.g., "unexpected" voting results or the rise of populist, xenophobic and Eurosceptic parties).…”

“…Issues related to refugees and the refugee crisis have been highly debated in many European Union countries over recent years (Berry, Garcia-Blanco, & Moore, 2016;Boomgaarden & Vliegenthart, 2009). One explanation refers to the implications of the increasing waves of refugees who found shelter in the EU, leading to the refugee crisis, often portrayed as the second most important crisis at the EU level, after the financial crisis from 2008.…”

Issue emergence and the dynamics of electoral competition around immigration in Spain

“…We know that the salience of immigration issues in the media can shape attitudes towards immigration among the public (Boomgaarden and Vliegenthart, 2009), and that immigration issues are attractive for the media (Brighton and Foy, 2007). It is reasonable to expect, therefore, that parties engage in competition over immigration debates especially when the attention, and the negative tone on immigration topics, are high in the media.…”