European Public Sphere| Attitudes Toward Illegal Immigration and Exposure to Public Service and Commercial Broadcasting in France, Norway, and the United States

Audun Beyer, Jörg Matthes

Abstract


This article investigates the relationship among political ideological orientations, exposure to news from public service and commercial broadcasters, and attitudes toward illegal immigration. Based on a comparative data set of a survey administered simultaneously in the United States, France, and Norway, we hypothesize that commercial news broadcasting drives stricter attitudes toward illegal immigration than public service broadcasting does. The findings suggest that political orientation is the strongest predictor of negative attitudes toward illegal immigration in all three countries. In addition, we find that exposure to commercial news broadcasting is positively related to negative attitudes toward illegal immigration in the United States, France, and Norway. Public service broadcasting, in contrast, leads to more positive attitudes toward illegal immigration in the United States but not in France and Norway. The implications for future research are discussed.


Keywords


illegal immigration, public opinion, media use, public service broadcasting, commercial broadcasting

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