Work

To Credit or to Blame? The Asymmetric Impact of Government Responsibility in Economic News

Year: 2019

Type: article

Abstract: This article studies the asymmetric effects of credit and blame attributions in economic news on government evaluations. We rely on a dataset combining a manual content analysis of Dutch economic news (print, television, online; N = 5,630) with a three-wave panel survey (N = 3,240) that was fielded in 2015. Results show that people who are exposed to news in which the government is blamed for the economy tend to adopt this frame by assigning responsibility to the government for the economic crisis. In addition, exposure to blame attributions leads to more negative government evaluations. This effect is partly mediated through the attribution of crisis responsibility. Credit attributions in the news do not have any effect on public opinion.

Source: International Journal of Public Opinion Research

DOI: 10.1093/ijpor/edz054

Authors: Alyt Damstra, Mark Boukes, Rens Vliegenthart

Institution: University of Amsterdam

Language: English

Topic: Media Studies and Communication

Subfield: Communication

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,121