CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2024
| Author | Antoniou, Eirini |
|---|---|
| Title | Framing Immigration: Exploring Media Effects on Immigrants' Perception of Discrimination and Political Attitudes |
| Summary | The impact the framing of immigration has on public opinion has been studied extensively in the existing literature. Yet, research that explores media effects on immigrants, as a sub-group, is scarce. This thesis proposes that negative narratives of immigration in the media resonate differently with immigrant populations than with the general public, which predominantly does not share an immigrant identity. Building on earlier findings of media effects on immigrants’ feelings of discrimination and extending further the theory of out-group status on immigrants' political attitudes, a causal chain mechanism is hypothesized: Immigrants exposed to negative framings report higher levels of discrimination (H1), feel closer to other immigrants (H2), support more positive immigration policies (H3), and show less support for anti-immigration parties (H4). The hypotheses were tested through an online randomized controlled survey experiment (n = 260) involving Turkish immigrants in Germany, where half of the participants were exposed to negative framings regarding immigration. The effect of the treatment was assessed through multiple linear regressions, controlling for covariates. The findings yielded significant results for H1, indicating that negative framings increase feelings of discrimination among immigrants. However, for H2, H3 and H4 the null hypothesis cannot be rejected. This research provides important insights into the effects of media framing on immigrants and underscores the need for further research into the political aspect of these effects. |
| Supervisor | Angelova Mariyana |
| Department | Political Science MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2024/antoniou_eirini.pdf |
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