Do you see what i see? An examination of hostile media perceptions online

As the use of and reliance on blogs and other online news sources continues to increase, it becomes increasingly important to understand how people perceive online media messages originating from the news media and user-generated sources. This research examines hostile media perceptions of blogs and news websites. Hostile media perceptions are aroused in partisans who believe neutral or balanced media messages on an issue-relevant topic portray a biased or slanted view contrary to their opinion. Partisans (N = 760) who strongly supported and opposed the issue of legalizing same-sex marriage participated in this study, which was made available online to readers of political and issue-oriented blogs. There were four primary purposes guiding this research: 1) to extend theorizing on hostile media perceptions and explore whether or not these perceptions exist within the blogosphere; 2) to examine the relationship between explicit source biases, commonly identified within blogs and more traditional media sources, and how these biases influence hostile perceptions more or less favorably; 3) to examine third person perceptions as an explanatory mechanism of hostile media perceptions and how differences in the issue attitudes of others influences this bias; and 4) to link general media perceptions (media credibility and media skepticism) and media reliance to hostile perceptions.;This research shows blogs (media blogs and issue blogs) generate hostile perceptions. In addition, individual political characteristics play a distinct role in partisans' judgments of media messages. Source bias also triggers more favorable and less hostile attitudes of media messages when the bias aligns with partisans' views. Less favorable and more hostile perceptions are aroused from balanced messages when the source does not align with their views. In general, this research shows source bias plays a greater role in generating hostile media perceptions for partisans with liberal and conservative orientations than reliance on online media or skepticism of mainstream media. Additionally, third person perceptions, particularly the influence on others with contrasting attitudes, proved a significant predictor of hostile perceptions, validating claims that the media's perceived influence on others does indeed contribute to hostile perceptions of media coverage.