Media Exposure and Attitudes towards Immigrants

Abstract

Despite evidences of the media’s infl uence on shaping the attitudes of
the Spanish population towards the immigrant community, survey
indicators have seldom been designed to explain the relationship
between media coverage of immigrants and the attitudes of native
towards this phenomenon. Using a sample of students, we examined
the validity of different types of indicators used to measure the
frequency of media consumption, the recall of news regarding
immigration and the degree of media credibility in order to explain racist
and xenophobic attitudes. Results reveal a clear association between
the news media and native group attitudes towards immigration, thus
demonstrating the usefulness of these indicators.