No Compassion for Muslims?: how Journalistic News Coverage of Terrorist Crimes Influences Emotional Reactions and Policy Support Depending on the Victim’s Religion
Islamist terrorist attacks have become a salient threat to Western countries, and news coverage about such crimes is a key predictor of public emotional reactions and policy support. We examine the effects of two key characteristics of terrorism news coverage: (1) the victim’s religion and (2) first...
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| Contributors: | ; |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2023
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| In: |
Crime & delinquency
Year: 2023, Volume: 69, Issue: 5, Pages: 1020-1043 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Rights Information: | CC BY 4.0 |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Keywords: |
| Summary: | Islamist terrorist attacks have become a salient threat to Western countries, and news coverage about such crimes is a key predictor of public emotional reactions and policy support. We examine the effects of two key characteristics of terrorism news coverage: (1) the victim’s religion and (2) first-person narratives that facilitate perspective taking. A quota-based experiment (N = 354) revealed that irrespective of the narrative type, news reports that mention the victims’ Muslim religion induce less anger and compassion, but more joy among non-Muslim news consumers. However, fear was equally induced by all news articles. As a consequence, fear, anger, and joy predicted support for more restrictive terrorism policies, while anger and compassion were related to more support for victim compensation. |
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| ISSN: | 1552-387X |
| DOI: | 10.1177/00111287211000626 |