Subconscious Gatekeeping: The Effect of Death Thoughts on Bias Toward Outgroups in News Writing

Abstract

This study contributes to gatekeeping theory by examining the importance of individual-level subconscious psychological factors in news story fact selection, specifically whether the thought of death increases biased writing toward outgroups. An experiment (N ¼ 79), based on terror management theory from social psychology, indicated that college journalists primed to think about death injected into their news stories 66% more negative facts toward a rival university than those in a control condition. Implications for mass media research, particularly individual-level psychological factors overriding routine gatekeeping forces, are discussed.

Implicit and Explicit Attitudes as Predictors of Gatekeeping, Selective Exposure, and News Sharing: Testing a General Model of Media-Related Selection

“…By conceptually replicating this idea in three independent MRS contexts, we built on previous research theorizing on the role of implicit and explicit attitudes in the media context (e.g., Ewoldsen, Rhodes, & Fazio, ; Goodall, ). In fact, MRS research has already acknowledged that news users are typically not aware of processes governing their choice decisions (Knobloch‐Westerwick, ) and that MRS decision makers “consciously or subconsciously inject bias” (Cuillier, , p. 4). However, this study goes beyond previous research by thoroughly specifying the processes underlying selection decisions.…”

“…Figure visualizes this assumption by letting one door of the swing gate be controlled by implicit attitudes. Although previous MRS research has already acknowledged the importance of “deeply held, often subconscious, biases” (Shoemaker & Vos, , p. 49; see also Cuillier, ), there is a lack of empirical evidence.…”

Destined to die but not to wage war: How existential threat can contribute to escalation or de-escalation of violent intergroup conflict.

“…Indeed, Cuillier (2012) found that college joumalists incorporated more negative facts about an outgroup into a news story following MS than following a control prime. Media reports also often include threats to people's worldview and thereby undermine people's anxiety buffer, which is especially needed in times of threat.…”

It happens here too

“…selecting what information to cover in the news media unconsciously, while still adhering to the goal of steering clear of bias (Cuillier, 2012). Because it would be impossible for the news media to know about and report on everything going on in the world, country, and local community, such decisions are, to some extent, unavoidable and integral to the news-making process.…”

“…Some scholars have identified a hierarchical model of outside influences that are likely to have the greatest impact on the gatekeeping decisions of journalists. Included in these hierarchical pressures are things such as the organization's social environment, editors, professional and social norms, and journalistic processes (Cuillier, 2012;Shoemaker & Reese, 1996). Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, the outside pressures actually play a larger role in influencing news content than do the personal standpoint, opinions, and gender of journalists (Bleske, 1997;Cassidy, 2006;Shoemaker & Reese, 1996).…”