Slone 2000 Media Coverage Terrorism

Responses to Media Coverage of Terrorism
Author(s): Michelle Slone

Source: The Journal of Conflict Resolution, Vol. 44, No. 4 (Aug., 2000), pp. 508-522
Published by: Sage Publications, Inc.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/174639 .
Accessed: 26/05/2013 08:16
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
.
Sage Publications, Inc. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of
Conflict Resolution.
http://www.jstor.org
This content downloaded from 132.229.14.7 on Sun, 26 May 2013 08:16:05 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Responses to Media Coverage of Terrorism
MICHELLE SLONE
Department of Psychology
Tel Aviv University
Differential anxiety responses to television coverage of national threat situations and terrorism in Israel
were examined. A total of 237 participants were evenly divided into two groups, each exposed to an experi-
mental or control condition. The experimental condition involved exposure to television news clips of ter-
rorism and threats to national security. The control condition involved equivalent-length exposure to news
clips unrelated to national danger situations. Results supported the anxiety-inducing effect of the experi-
mental condition and indicated differential demographic and dispositional responses to the footage accord-
ing to gender, religiousness, and level of dogmatism. These results support the powerful effect of the mass
media and advocate further exploration of links between media broadcasting of political violence and psy-
chological processes.
Research on the influence of the mass media on people's attitudes and emotional
states has a long and contentious history. Arguments range from those that cite the mass
media as a powerful propaganda tool capable of molding the attitudes of a susceptible
public (Herman and Chomsky 1988; Lee 1990) to those that claim the media has a very
limited influence (Curran, Gurevitch, and Woollacott 1982). However, in general,
unreliable methodologies and complex results have plagued this body of research
(Blumler and Gurevitch 1982).
In the subdomain of mass media reporting of violence, a clearer picture has begun
to emerge. In general, findings have demonstrated that media documentation of vio-
lence and brutality engenders feelings of fear even among individuals who have not
been directly exposed to such violence and for whom it poses no immediate personal
threat (Bandura 1986). Furthermore, results suggest that the extent and direction of
media influence may vary across groups or individuals (Blumler and Gurevitch 1982).
However, the majority of research has focused only on media reports of criminal vio-
lence, whereas the emotional impact of media coverage of political violence remains
virtually unexplored. In light of this hiatus, this study focuses on the emotional
response evoked by media coverage of political violence. More specifically, it investi-
gates the differential anxiety response of different groups of individuals to television
coverage of political terrorism.
It has long been recognized that political circumstances exert an impact on the emo-
tional status of individuals. The deleterious psychological
effects of political instabil-
ity and accompanying violence have been clearly demonstrated in such diverse the-
JOURNAL OF CONFLICT RESOLUTION, Vol. 44 No. 4, August 2000 508-522
?
2000 Sage Publications, Inc.
508
Slone /MEDIA COVERAGE OF TERRORISM 509
aters of conflict as Northern Ireland (Cairns and Wilson 1989), South Africa (Dawes
1994), Lebanon (Macksoud and Aber 1996), and Guatemala (Miller 1996). Congru-
ently, Israeli and Palestinian studies have echoed international findings (Baker 1990;
Klingman, Sagi, and Raviv 1993; Punamaki 1988; Slone, Adiri, and Arian 1998).
However, although most past research in this area has targeted the effect of victimiza-
tion or witnessing of political violence, the adverse psychological consequences of
political upheaval are by no means caused exclusively by direct contact with incidents
of confrontation or violence. Most individuals do not assess threat to personal and
national security on the basis of direct experience but rather on the basis of more indi-
rect forms of exposure. One of the most salient channels through which information
and perceptions are gleaned is through mass media coverage of political events, which
may mediate assessments of threat. However, the absence of neutrality in the majority
of media reports has been cited by critics across the political spectrum (Giner-Sorolla
and Chaiken 1994), suggesting that the public is exposed to biased coverage of politi-
cal events that may influence attitudes and feelings in particular directions.
The political milieu of Israel constellates many of these issues and provides a rich
context within which to redress the lack of rigorous methodological research on the
psychological impact of media reports of political violence. The long-standing peace
initiative in the Middle East has failed to curb the high levels of political violence or to
ease concerns for national and personal security to which both Israelis and Palestinians
are exposed on a daily basis. For Israelis, the establishment of a Jewish state has for
decades been fraught with opposition to its autonomous existence, war, threats of war,
and terrorist attacks (Harkabi 1988). Recurring spates of suicide bombings, the assas-
sination of the prime minister in 1995, and the faltering Israeli-Palestinian peace pro-
cess have intensified the ideological and political divisions not only between Israelis
and Palestinians but also between Israelis at opposing ends of the political spectrum
(Arian 1996). The Israeli population's preoccupation with national security is reflected
in its constant evaluation of the country's security status and the plentiful critical
debates about it in the mass media (Jacobson and Bar-Tal 1995). Although the psycho-
logical effects on Israelis of direct exposure to war and political violence as witnesses
or victims have been well documented in recent literature (Klingman, Sagi, and Raviv
1993; Slone, Adiri, and Arian, 1998), the emotional impact of the widespread expo-
sure to media coverage of such events remains unknown.
The spectrum of political attitudes among Israelis toward security issues and defini-
tions of borders highlights the complex interweaving of political and religious ideology.
On this grid, the boundaries of religion and nationalism are blurred (Tabory 1993).
Religion dictates that all the land of Israel is sacred, promised to the Jewish people by
God, thus making political claims for the land and resistance to its surrender insepara-
ble from religious belief. Israel is perceived as both a national and a religious home-
land, and any threat to the security of the country can be construed as a peril both to the
Jewish religion and to the Israeli nation. The ideology of the land operates together
with security concerns and perceptions of threat in ordering political orientation. In
this way, political and nationalistic attitudes are thus often intricately linked to reli-
gious attitudes (Arian 1996).
510 JOURNAL OF CONFLICT RESOLUTION
There are a number of religious groupings in Israel, which can be broadly catego-
rized into three divisions. First, the ultraorthodox Jews, who comprise approximately
5% of the population, are distinguished by their modest traditional dress, insulated res-
idential communities, and devout practice of traditional Jewish religious laws and ritu-
als. Second, the religious Jews, who comprise approximately 40% to 45% of the popu-
lation, are more modem and less insulated than the ultraorthodox although still stringent
and devout in their religious practices. Third, approximately 40% to 45% identify
themselves as secular Jews (Tabory 1993).
On this spectrum, the ultraorthodox community tends to oppose most strongly, and
frequently more militantly than other religious grouping any attempt by the state to
cede land to the Palestinians in the framework of the peace negotiations. They are the
most extreme representatives of the interlocked religion-politics fusion. The assassi-
nation of the "doveish" Prime Minister Rabin by an orthodox Jew opposed to his peace
initiatives highlights some of the ways in which political opposition divides the popu-
lation along religious dimensions.
In the Israeli context, the enmeshment of land and religion suggests that Israelis
may have differing psychological responses to threats to national security, depending
on their degree of religiousness. General findings on the relation between religion and
emotional response have been inconclusive, with some studies reporting a positive
relation between the two variables (Koenig 1993; Myers and Diener 1995; Neeleman
and Persand 1995) such that individuals with high levels of intrinsic religiousness
experience less anxiety than others (Mickley, Carson, and Soeken 1995). However, the
majority of studies have found no significant relation between religion and mental
health (Hathaway and Pargament 1990). Surprisingly, very little research has been
devoted to this question in Israel, although the few studies that have been conducted
echo this finding of no significant relation (Francis and Katz 1992).
This study departs from previous correlative research in that rather than examining
the broad relation between religion and mental health it focuses more narrowly on psy-
chological responses to a particular type of stressor in an experimental design. Specifically,
the study examines the effects of media coverage of threats to national security with
particular reference to differential response according to degree of religiousness. This
refinement of methodology enables a rigorous examination of the role of religion in
mediating psychological well-being in this specific political context. In addition, in the
search for a finer discrimination of the way in which stress responses to political broad-
casts are mediated by religion, this study includes examination of the dispositional
variable of dogmatism, which is closely related to religious ideology.
The concept of dogmatism was developed by Rokeach (1960)
as a measure of
authoritarianism without ideological content (Sexton 1983). Rokeach (1960) defined
dogmatism as a closed cognitive organization of beliefs about reality, manifested in an
inclination to be close-minded, intolerant of others, and deferential to authority. Peo-
ple who score high on dogmatism have a pervasive outlook of fear, pessimism,
and
concern for power. Although the concept of dogmatism was developed to encompass
all points on the political spectrum, those who score high on dogmatism
also tend to
score high on measures of authoritarianism (Hanson 1968; Plant 1960). Authoritarian-
ism, in turn, is correlated with conservative or extremist right-wing political attitudes,
Slone IMEDIA COVERAGE OF TERRORISM 511
nationalism, and religiosity (Adorno et al. 1950; Eckhardt 1991) and shows different
patterns by gender (McFarland, Agayev, and Abalinka 1990). Although the relation
between dogmatism and gender has not been rigorously examined, some studies have
found higher scores on Rokeach's F scale for men than for women (Duckitt 1983).
Dogmatism also appears to mediate emotional stress responses. Rokeach (1960)
himself suggested that dogmatism is a rigid but brittle defense against anxiety, which
would be correlated with anxiety responses to stress. Indeed, when subjected to exami-
nation, studies have shown a direct relation between a high level of dogmatism and
increased levels of anxiety (Anderson 1962; Nidorf and Argabrite 1968).
In accord with these considerations, the aims of the present study were twofold.
First, it attempted to extend existing but generally methodologically fragile research
on the impact of media reports of violence to the arena of political violence and terror-
ism. In the attempt to employ a rigorous methodological design, the study investigated
whether an intervention of a political film containing television news clips of threats to
Israel's national security and terrorist activity in the country induces anxiety responses
in an Israeli sample. Second, the study aimed to investigate whether the exposure
would induce anxiety changes differentially in various groupings within the population.
In line with these aims, the study posited four hypotheses. The first hypothesis
stated that there would be an increase in state anxiety in the experimental group that
was exposed to the intervention showing terrorist activities but not in the control group
that was exposed to an intervention unrelated to terrorism and national threat. Positive
results for this research question would reinforce the validity of the intervention and
allow examination of the other research questions.
The other three hypotheses related to the differential impact of media exposure to
political violence for different sectors of the population. To explore this question, three
participant characteristics were examined. These characteristics were gender, reli-
giousness, and dogmatism.
Regarding gender differences in response to the intervention, the second hypothesis
stated that the difference in state anxiety in the experimental group would be greater
for women than for men. This is in line with prolific research on gender differences in
stress responses, which reports that significantly higher rates of anxiety are diagnosed
among women than among men (Myers and Diener 1995; Pilgrim and Rogers 1993).
Regarding religiousness, the third hypothesis stated that the difference in state anxi-
ety as a result of the intervention for the experimental group would be greater for reli-
gious persons than for secular persons. The complex, unique interweaving of national-
ism and religion in Israel at this historical juncture suggests that orthodox more than
secular Israelis may be more invested in maintaining Israel's security without surren-
dering
land in the West Bank in return for
peace
treaties. This is due to their
strong
reli-
gious beliefs in the legitimacy of a Jewish homeland as defined in the Bible, which
compounds political and nationalistic ideologies. Thus, visual material of threats to
the existent structure along with their fear that these threats would not deter the
left-wing government from land-for-peace deals would be more anxiety provoking for
orthodox Israelis than for secular Israelis whose recognition of national
security
threats
has generally spurred support for land-for-peace deals.
512 JOURNAL OF CONFLICTRESOLUTION
Finally, given the apparent links between anxiety, dogmatism, religiousness, and gen-
der, the fourth hypothesis stated that dogmatism would interact with gender and reli-
giousness in determining the impact of the experimental manipulation on state anxiety.
METHOD
PARTICIPANTS
Participants in the study were 237 Israeli adults, relatively evenly divided by gen-
der. They ranged in age from 20 to 56, the average age being 34.7. Participants were
divided into two groups: 120 comprised the experimental group that was exposed to a
media intervention of television clips of terrorism and political violence, and 117
comprised the control group that received an intervention of news clips unrelated to
national threat. All participants were of middle-class socioeconomic status and held
various public service jobs, such as teaching and other technical, administrative, and
municipal positions. Post hoc comparisons between the experimental and control
groups showed no significant differences on the demographic characteristics of gen-
der, age, socioeconomic status, and parental educational level. Exposure to one of the
two conditions was the only difference in procedure between the two groups.
INSTRUMENTS
All participants completed the following questionnaires:
State anxiety questionnaire (Spielberger, Gorsuch, and Lushene 1970). This widely
used questionnaire examines state anxiety level and consists of 20 items that describe
various feelings. The respondent is required to indicate for each item, on a scale of 1 to
4 (not at all, a little, moderately, a lot), the description that best reflects his or her cur-
rent feelings. The summed score of all items is a measure of the respondent's state anx-
iety. The questionnaire has been translated into Hebrew (Teichman and Melink 1979)
according to the instructions of the author and is widely used in Israel. The question-
naire is reported to have excellent psychometric properties with cross-cultural applica-
bility and good test-retest and split-half properties. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient
for the scale reported in the literature is .91. In the present study, the test was used as a
split-half measure with 10 items administered before the intervention and 10 items
after the intervention in both the experimental and control conditions. The internal
consistency for the preintervention administration was a = .92 and for the postinter-
vention administration a= .95, yielding an overall internal consistency score of a= .94.
Rokeach's E Version Dogmatism Questionnaire. This questionnaire consists of 40
items, each of which is a declarative sentence, to which respondents are required to
rate their agreement or disagreement on a scale from -3 (very much disagree)
to +3
(very much agree). A general dogmatism score is yielded by converting ratings to a
1 (very much disagree) to 6 (very much agree) scale and summing these ratings. The
questionnaire is reported to have excellent cross-cultural applicability and test-retest
and split-half reliability. The questionnaire was translated into Hebrew by Green
(1975),
who also
reported good psychometric properties
in Israel, including reliability
scores ranging from .69 to .93 on different samples and Cronbach's alpha coefficient of
.71 for internal consistency. The present study yielded a Cronbach's alpha coefficient
of .81 for the scale.
Demographic background questionnaire. This questionnaire contained questions
regarding the demographic background of participants, including age, gender, profes-
sion, socioeconomic status, and educational level, and was used to assess similarity
between the experimental and control groups. The questionnaire also included a series
of questions assessing self-definition of religiousness and adherence to religious prac-
tices. Responses to these questions were used to categorize participants into two
groups, religious and secular, which served as one of the independent variables in the
study.
PROCEDURE
The study was conducted in an auditorium in which groups of 10 participants were
seated. Each administration of the study was randomly assigned as an experimental or
a control condition. In both conditions, the experimenter explained to participants that
they were taking part in a study on feelings and personal beliefs about various issues.
Each participant was allocated a booklet and requested to respond to the question-
naires in the order in which they appeared in the pamphlet until reaching a page that
read "Please stop." The questionnaires included the demographic questionnaire,
Rokeach's dogmatism questionnaire, and half of the state anxiety questionnaire.
Except for the state anxiety questionnaire, which was adjacent to the experimental or
control procedure, the other questionnaires were randomly counterbalanced across all
participants. After completing the first section of the booklet, participants were admin-
istered either the experimental or the control condition.
Experimental Condition
The experimental group was exposed to an intervention consisting of a 12-minute
film that was prepared using video editing. The film consisted of segments of archive
material of news clippings depicting terrorist threats to the country that had been
broadcast on Israeli national television. The segments used in the film were presenta-
tions of Hizballah activity in Lebanon, footage of Hamas training in the West Bank,
and coverage of terrorist attacks within Israel. A continuous Hebrew soundtrack was
added to the edited film.
Control Condition
The control group was exposed to a movie that was equivalent in length and format
to that of the experimental condition. The presentation
in the control condition con-
tained locally relevant news clips that had been broadcast on Israeli national television,
but it did not contain coverage of terrorist activity or direct danger to national security.
After each condition, participants responded to the second half of the state anxiety
questionnaire. The experimental and control conditions were randomly presented to
the groups of participants.
At the end of the entire experiment, all participants responded to a question con-
cerning their own or their close family's direct exposure to terrorism. The rationale
underlying this question was to remove from the study participants whose responses
may have derived not from media portrayals of terrorism but from direct exposure as
victims. Only one participant responded affirmatively, and she was removed from the
sample, leaving the 237 participants of the study.
RESULTS
First, the delta for the differences in state anxiety before and after the interventions
was calculated. There was no significant difference in state anxiety between the two
groups prior to the interventions.
To test the hypotheses, a 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 ANOVA was conducted with the intervention
conditions (experimental and control), gender (male and female), religiousness (reli-
gious and secular), and dogmatism (high and low, divided at the median) as the inde-
pendent variables and the delta (state anxiety difference) as the dependent variable.
The first hypothesis was supported by a main effect of the intervention condition,
F(1, 222)
=
127.34, p < .0001, with the delta significantly higher for the experimental
condition (M= 16.20, SD = 11.69) than for the control condition (M = 2.33, SD = .09).
However, because higher order interactions were found, this hypothesis is further
reported for specific groups.
A significant two-way interaction emerged for the intervention condition and gen-
der, F (1, 222) = 33.91, p < .001). Scheff6 post hoc comparisons revealed that in the
experimental condition the anxiety difference was significantly greater (p < .001) for
women (M= 21.91, SD =
13.07) than for men (M= 14.69, SD =
10.34), but in the con-
trol condition no difference emerged.
A significant two-way interaction emerged for the intervention condition and reli-
gion, F (1, 222)
=
13.91, p < .001. Scheff6 post hoc comparisons revealed that in the
experimental condition the anxiety difference was significantly greater (p < .00 1) for
religious (M
=
18.73, SD =
13.23) than for secular participants (M
=
12.83, SD =
11.75), but in the control condition no difference emerged.
Two significant three-way interactions were found. The first was an interaction be-
tween intervention condition, religiousness, and dogmatism, F(1, 222)
=
7.20,p
< .01.
Scheff6 post hoc comparisons revealed that in the experimental condition, the anxiety
difference for religious participants was greater for those who scored low on dogma-
tism than for those who scored high
on
dogmatism (p
<
.05).
For secular participants,
the reverse was found in that the anxiety difference was lower for those who scored low
on dogmatism than for those who scored high on dogmatism (p < .01). Means for the
anxiety difference in the experimental condition for religious and secular participants
with low and high levels of dogmatism are presented in Figure 1.
In the control condition, no difference emerged in the anxiety difference for reli-
giousness or dogmatism. These results mean that there are opposite patterns in the way
religious and secular people react with anxiety to the experimental manipulation,
depending on their basic level of dogmatism.
A second three-way interaction was found for intervention condition, gender, and
dogmatism, F(1, 222) = 11.72, p < .001. Scheff6 post hoc comparisons showed that in
the experimental condition the anxiety difference for men was significantly greater
(p < .05) for participants who scored high on dogmatism. For women, although the
reverse phenomenon occurred, this did not reach statistical significance. Means for the
anxiety difference for men and women with low and high levels of dogmatism are pre-
sented in Figure 2.
This means that there are different patterns in the way in which women and men
react with anxiety to the footage on terrorism, depending on their basic level of dogma-
tism. In the control condition, no difference emerged in the anxiety difference for gen-
der and dogmatism. No four-way interactions emerged.
Because similar interactions were found for religiousness and gender, a chi-square
test for independence was calculated to assess whether these variables were correlated.
No relation was found between gender and religiousness, indicating that the above
results are not confounded.
DISCUSSION
This study found a significant difference in anxiety-level changes between partici-
pants in the experimental group who were exposed to a media broadcast portraying ter-
rorist threats to Israel's national security and participants in the control group. Thus,
the first hypothesis was strongly confirmed. In addition to the undeniable value of the
result itself, this validated the stressogenic nature of the experimental intervention and
adds credence to the findings for the other hypotheses.
The finding that media portrayals of terrorism, political violence, and threats to
national security provoke anxiety in individual viewers questions the veracity of those
studies that claim that the influence of the mass media is negligible and benign
(Curran, Gurevitch, and Woolacott 1982). Consonantly, this finding provides support
for existing research that documents the powerful and potentially damaging impact of
mass media on the psychological well-being
of the viewing public (Bandura 1986).
However, it should be noted that most existing research has been restricted to examina-
tions of the effects of media exposure
on attitudes and
opinions
rather than on emo-
tional states. The present finding of significant state anxiety increase as a result of
media exposure suggests extension of the perimeters
of this research domain to
encompass media elicitation of emotional responses
in the political sphere.
This is particularly pertinent in the case of television,
which so vividly
and immedi-
ately portrays occurrences that may not be part of the direct experiential repertoire
of
25
20
g 15
.-)
10
-
Religious
5-
$samus4u .....
Secular
0-
Low High
Dogmatism
Figure 1: Means of Religious Participants with High and Low Dogmatism Levels on
Anxiety Differences
the individual. The visual medium provides a dramatic concretization of images and
scenes that draw the viewer into the events. This could invoke a powerful emotional
response even in individuals removed in time and space from direct personal threat.
These results buttress the notion of the power of television over the viewing public
(Lee 1990). However, it should be noted that this study investigated only immediate
response. Future research should attempt to disentangle transitory from perpetuating
emotional responses to disturbing media broadcasts.
This study enhances the existing literature in two important ways. First, it offers a
rigorous methodological design, which has been largely absent in studies of the psy-
chological impact of mass media (Blumler and Gurevitch 1982). This study examined
only one possible psychological response to media reports of threats to national secu-
SloneIMEDIA COVERAGEOFTERRORISM 517
25
20
15
1 0
5
Males
Z"~-' Females
0-_
Low High
Dogmatism
Figure 2: Means of Men and Women with High and Low Dogmatism Levels on Anxiety
Differences
rity, that of state anxiety. However, it is probable that an array of emotional responses,
such as fear, depression, hostility, and many others, may be elicited by exposure to
such stimuli. The methodology of this study could be mobilized in future research to
explore a range of psychological responses.
Second, the study extends the exploration of media impact on psychological health
to media portrayals of political violence, which have thus far received little attention
from researchers. Although this study examined the specific political context of Israel,
politically motivated violence and its media coverage extend almost throughout the
world. Terrorist attacks, bombings, assassinations, war, civil war, and violent confron-
tations are increasingly a feature of many nations, from Eastern Europe, the Middle
East, and Asia to the United States, South America, and Africa. Although the film used
in this study was compiled by the researchers for the purpose of the study, it consisted
of a montage of existing media clips. Such footage forms part of the daily media diet of
Israelis (Jacobson and Bar-Tal 1995) and, indeed, constitutes the international media
that people who have access to print and electronic media view. Given the pervasive-
ness of politically motivated violence and its ongoing coverage in the mass media, the
results of this study indicate the importance of monitoring the effects of such exposure
on the psychological well-being of media viewers across the globe.
The hypothesis that women will report greater anxiety changes than will men in
response to the experimental intervention was also confirmed. Because previous find-
ings have suggested that men tend to respond to stress instrumentally, whereas women
tend to respond in a more emotionally expressive manner (Eagly and Wood 1991), the
greater anxiety change of female participants may simply reflect their greater willing-
ness to report anxiety. However, it may also indicate that women are, in fact, more vul-
nerable than men to anxiety when exposed to threatening political broadcasts.
As hypothesized, religious participants reported greater anxiety changes in response
to the experimental intervention than did secular participants. No interaction between
gender and religion was found, indicating that there is no differential effect on the anx-
iety difference for religious women as opposed to secular women and for religious
men as opposed to secular men. Thus, the religious participants of both genders were
more vulnerable to anxiety in response to the political broadcasts than were the secular
participants.
This finding raises the issue of the role that religious ideology plays in regulating
emotion. The results of this study appear to contradict a vast body of research that has
documented the role of religion in enhancing psychological well-being (Myers and
Diener 1995; Neeleman and Persand 1995) and in facilitating psychological adjust-
ment in the face of direct exposure to political violence and oppression (Punamaki
1996). However, the finding may be explicable in terms of the specific positioning of
religion to political ideology and emotional outcome within the particular Israeli con-
text examined in this study.
One explanation suggests that the finding may be specific to responses to media
coverage of political violence. Studies of the role of religion in mediating stress responses
have neglected responses to media portrayals of violence in general and political vio-
lence in particular. It is possible that religious commitment may serve a protective
function under circumstances of direct victimization and witnessing of violence, but
not when violence is filtered through the media. A speculative explanation for this is
that events that entail personal involvement may be more easily assigned meaning than
indirectly viewed media events that involve anonymous individuals. Whether the pro-
tective function of religion operates differently in cases of direct and indirect exposure
to political violence should be explored in future research.
Second, it is plausible that the greater anxiety level changes of religious participants
as compared to secular participants on exposure to media portrayals
of national secu-
rity threats reflect the complex interrelation between religion and nationalism in Israel.
Religious Israelis tend to place a heightened focus on retention of land in the West
Bank for ideological reasons than do secular Israelis. This stance of resistance to sur-
render of land has become enmeshed with settlement of areas of the West Bank and
Slone/MEDIA COVERAGEOFTERRORISM 519
concomitant demands for security of the settlements. This ideology posits that concern
for general national security cannot come at the expense of relinquishment of parts of
historical larger Israel.
Religious right-wing adherents tend to view terrorist threats to the security of the
settlements and suicide bombings in the heart of Israel as questioning the Palestinians'
credentials as worthy negotiating partners. This coupled with the then-Labor govern-
ment's insistence on pressing ahead with the peace process and territorial compromise
would certainly make religious right-wing adherents feel threatened both from within
and without.
Indeed, after each suicide bombing, a heated debate ensued in which predomi-
nantly secular left-wing adherents advocated pressing on with the peace process none-
theless, in the face of a lack of viable alternate routes, whereas the predominantly reli-
gious right-wing adherents advocated halting the peace process immediately. Despite
these calls for cessation of the peace process, Acting Prime Minister Shimon Peres's
left-wing Labor government was determined to continue negotiations. This prompted
criticism by right-wingers of weak capitulation to all Palestinian demands and eventu-
ally contributed to the fall of the Labor government in the following elections and the
ascent of the right-wing Likud government that essentially brought a halt to the
Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. Thus, high levels of religiousness may be asso-
ciated with an enhanced sense of threat and vulnerability in the face of challenges to
both community and national security.
The hypothesis that levels of dogmatism will interact with religion in determining
the change in anxiety response was confirmed. For secular participants, it was found
that individuals who scored high on dogmatism became more anxious in response to
the threatening political broadcast than those who scored low on dogmatism. This
finding is in line with existing theory (Rokeach 1960) and empirical studies (e.g.,
Anderson 1962; Nidorf and Argabrite 1968) that posit that dogmatism is correlated
with anxiety.
However, among religious participants, a contradictory relation emerged whereby
dogmatic participants showed less change in anxiety than did nondogmatic partici-
pants. This finding suggests that for dogmatic individuals, religion seems to mediate
responses to threatening political broadcasts. One possible interpretation for this may
be that high levels of both dogmatism and religiousness are quite compatible, as borne
out by studies that indicate that the two are correlated (Eckhardt and Newcombe 1969;
Eckhardt 1991). Both dogmatism and fundamentalist religion comprise a rigid set of
beliefs and a clear encompassing ideology that prescribe a philosophy and way of life
that may be characterized as close-mindedness. This is particularly true in Israel,
where religiousness is associated with orthodoxy, insularity, and a set of conservative
political beliefs (Arian 1996). On the other hand, nondogmatic religious Israelis may
find their relative open-mindedness at odds with the community and the fixed religious
codes by which they live. Pervasive media bombardment about
enemy
threats and ter-
rorism may evoke a conflict between close-minded religious ideology
and a more
open-minded nationalist or political ideology, a conflict that increases anxiety. Dog-
matic ultrareligious Israelis are unlikely to be troubled with such internal ideological
conflicts.
In this sample, there was also an interaction between dogmatism and gender in the
experimental group. Among men, those who scored high on dogmatism reported a
greater increase in anxiety in response to the threatening intervention than those who
scored low on dogmatism. Among women, there tended to be the reverse phenome-
non, with those who scored low on dogmatism reporting a greater increase in anxiety
than those who scored high on dogmatism. This highlights the complex relation be-
tween dogmatism and demographic variables in responsiveness to stressogenic politi-
cal stimuli. Clearly, the interaction between dogmatism and demographic variables
such as religiousness and gender suggests that dogmatism holds a pivotal position in
response to anxiety-provoking situations in a political-ideological context. These
interrelations warrant closer investigation with larger samples and in a variety of con-
texts of televised portrayals of political violence.
In sum, the findings of this study provide support for the argument that the mass
media has an impact on the psychological well-being of viewers. Specifically, televi-
sion broadcasts of political violence and national threat have the power to increase per-
sonal levels of state anxiety among viewers. However, more important, the findings
also confirm the contention that different individuals and groups are differentially
affected (Blumler and Gurevitch 1982) and suggest that the demographic variables of
religiousness and gender and the personality variable of dogmatism are important
determinants of such effects.
Within the specific sociopolitical context of Israel, these variables were found to
mediate the impact of television coverage of political violence and terrorism on levels
of anxiety. Women, dogmatic men, religious Israelis in general, and nondogmatic reli-
gious Israelis in particular seem to be especially vulnerable to anxiety responses
within this particular political framework. It would be valuable for the planning of
intervention measures to explore whether these variables are equally predictive in
other sociopolitical contexts. Additionally, in this study, only the variables of reli-
giousness, gender, and dogmatism were examined. However, the findings suggest
extension of this form of intervention to a broader array of variables that could be
implicated in modulating emotional response to political violence exposure both
directly and indirectly via the media.
It is widely acknowledged that political media broadcasts are seldom ideologically
neutral (Herman and Chomsky 1988; Lee 1990) and are often perceived by viewers to
be biased (Giner-Sorola and Chaiken 1994). It is possible that in addition to the actual
reports of political instability, it is their partisan and often sensationalist nature that
fuel anxiety. The mass media, in Israel and elsewhere, should take cognizance of its
potentially powerful effect on the public's psychological well-being and consider its
policy in presenting emotionally evocative content in its political coverage, where eth-
ically necessary. Debate in Israel has, indeed, pondered the effects of uncensored
broadcasts of the horrendous aftermath of suicide bombings and other terrorist attacks.
Some journalists-stand
firm on the media's right to freedom of expression and obliga-
tion to report uncensored events, and others advocate restraint to avoid fertilizing pub-
lic panic and serving the aims of the terrorists.
Unlike news coverage in other domains, the dependence of terrorist organizations
on propaganda and media dissemination of the effectiveness of their activities raises
Slone/MEDIA COVERAGE OF TERRORISM 521
searching ethical concerns for media presentation decisions. This discussion has been
voiced in other arenas of terrorist activity, although no clear consensus about media
coverage guidelines has emerged (Kingston 1995).
In the exploration of the links between media broadcasting and psychological pro-
cesses, the methodological design of this study offers a useful research paradigm,
molded from the domain of psychological research, which can be extended to the
forum of media and propaganda research. Knowledge of variables affecting the differ-
ential impact of media reporting could be exploited by the media for propaganda pur-
poses under strict ethical considerations. This research paradigm could prove to be a
valuable tool to address the imperative of fostering an accountable and responsible
ethos toward the reporting of political violence and terrorism by the mass media.
REFERENCES
Adorno, T. W., E. Frenkel-Brunswik, D. J. Levinson, and R. N. Sanford. 1950. The authoritarian personal-
ity. New York: Harper.
Anderson, C. C. 1962. A developmental study of dogmatism during adolescence with reference to sex dif-
ferences. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 65:132-35.
Arian, A. 1996. Security threatened: Surveying Israeli opinion on peace and war. Tel Aviv: Jaffee Center for
Strategic Studies, Tel Aviv University.
Baker, A. 1990. The psychological impact of the Intifada on Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank
and Gaza: An exploratory study. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 60:496-505.
Bandura, A. 1986. Socialfoundations of thought
and action: A social
cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs,
NJ: Prentice Hall.
Bettelheim, B. 1961. The informed heart. New York: Free Press.
Blumler, J. G., and M. Gurevitch. 1982. The political effects of mass communication. In Culture, society and
the media, edited by M. Gurevitch, T. Bennet, J. Curran, and J. Woollacott, 30-47. London: Routledge.
Cairns, E., and R. Wilson. 1989. Mental health aspects of political violence in Northern Ireland. Interna-
tional Journal of Mental Health 18 (1): 38-56.
Curran, J., M. Gurevitch, and J. Woollacott. 1982. The study of the media: Theoretical approaches. In Cul-
ture, society and the media, edited by M. Gurevitch, T. Bennet, J. Curran, and J. Woollacott, 11-29. Lon-
don: Routledge.
Dawes, A. 1994. The emotional impact of political violence. In Childhood and adversity, edited by A. Dawes
and D. Donald, 177-99. Cape Town, South Africa: David Philip.
Duckitt, J. H. 1983. Culture, class, personality and authoritarianism among White South Africans. Journal
of Social Psychology 121 (2): 191-99.
Eagly, A. C., and W. Wood. 1991. Explaining sex differences in social behavior: A meta-analytic perspec-
tive. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 17 (3): 306-15.
Eckhardt, W. 1991. Research note: Authoritarianism. Political Psychology 12 (1): 97-124.
Eckhardt, W., and A. G. Newcombe. 1969. Militarism, personality and other social attitudes. Journal of
Conflict Resolution 13:210-19.
Francis, L. J., and Y. J. Katz. 1992. The relationship between personality and religiosity in an Israeli sample.
Journal
for
the
Scientific Study of Religion
31 (2): 153-62
Giner-Sorolla, R., and S. Chaiken. 1994. The causes of hostile media judgements. Journal of Experimental
Social Psychology 30:165-80.
Green, D. 1975. Urban and kibbutz socialization
processes
in moral
judgment
and
dogmatism. Unpublished
manuscript, Tel Aviv University, Israel.
Hanson, D. J. 1968. Dogmatism and authoritarianism. Journal of Social Psychology 76:89-95.
Harkabi, Y. 1988. Israel's fateful decisions. London: I. B. Tauris.
Hathaway, N. L., and K. I. Pargament. 1990. Intrinsic religiousness, religious coping and psychosocial com-
petence: A covariance structure analysis. Journalfor the
Scientific
Study of Religion 29 (4): 423-41.
Herman, E. S., and N. Chomsky. 1988. Manufacturing consent: The political economy of the mass media.
New York: Pantheon.
Jacobson, D., and D. Bar-Tal. 1995. Structure of security beliefs among Israeli students. Political Psychol-
ogy 16 (3): 567-90.
Kingston, S. 1995. Terrorism, the media and the Northern Ireland conflict. Studies in Conflict and Terrorism
18:203-31.
Klingman, A., A. Sagi, and A. Raviv. 1993. Effects of waron Israeli children. In Psychological effects of war
and violence on children, edited by L. A. Leavitt and N. A. Fox. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Koenig, H. G. 1993. The relationship between Judeo-Christian religion and mental health among middle
aged and older adults. Advances 9 (4): 33-39.
Lee, M. A. 1990. Unreliable sources: A guide to detecting bias in mass media. New York: Carol Publishing
Group.
Macksoud, M. S., and J. L. Aber. 1996. The war experiences and psychosocial development of children in
Lebanon. Child Development 67:70-88.
McFarland, S., V. Agayev, and M. Abalinka. 1990. "The authoritarian personality" in the USA and USSR:
Comparative studies. Paper presented at the meeting of the International Society for Political Psychol-
ogy, July, Washington, DC.
Mickley, J. R., V. Carson, and K. L. Soeken. 1995. Religion and adult mental health: State of the science in
nursing. Issues in Mental Health Nursing 16 (4): 345-60.
Miller, K. 1996. The effects of state terrorism and exile on indigenous Guatemalan refugee children: A men-
tal health assessment and an analysis of children's narratives. Child Development 67:89-106.
Myers, D. G., and E. Diener. 1995. Who is happy? Psychological Science 6 (1): 10-19.
Neeleman, J., and R. Persand. 1995. Why do psychiatrists neglect religion? British Journal of Medical Psy-
chology 68 (2): 169-78.
Nidorf, L. J., and A. H. Argabrite. 1968. Dogmatism, sex of the subject and cognitive complexity. Journal of
Projective Techniques and Personality Assessment 32:585-88.
Pilgrim, D., and A. Rogers. 1993. Sociology of mental health and illness. Buckingham, UK: Open Univer-
sity Press.
Plant, W. T. 1960. Rokeach's dogmatism scale as a measure of general authoritarianism. Psychological
Reports 6:164.
Punamaki, R. 1988. Experiences of torture, means of coping and level of symptoms among Palestinian polit-
ical prisoners. Journal of Palestinian Studies 16:81-96.
1996. Can ideological commitment protect children's psychosocial well-being in situations of
political violence? Child Development 67 (1): 55-69.
Rokeach, M. D. 1960. The open and closed mind. New York: Basic Books.
Sexton, M. 1983. Alienation, dogmatism and related personality characteristics. Journal of Clinical Psy-
chology 39 (1): 80-86.
Slone, M., M. Adiri, and A. Arian. 1998. Adverse political events and psychological adjustment: Two
cross-cultural studies. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
37:1058-69.
Spielberger,
C. D., R. C. Gorsuch, and R. E. Lushene. 1970. STAI manualfor
the state-trait
anxiety
inven-
tory. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
Tabory, E. 1993. Avoidance and conflict: Perceptions regarding contact between religious and non-religious
Jewish youth in Israel. Journalfor the Scientific Study of Religion 31 (2): 148-62.
Teichman, Y., and C. Melink. 1979. Questionnaireforthe assessment of state and trait anxiety: Hebrew test
guide. Ramot, Israel: Tel Aviv University.

Slone 2000 Media Coverage Terrorism

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Slone 2000 Media Coverage Terrorism

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Slone 2000 Media Coverage Terrorism

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Responses to Media Coverage of Terrorism

Author(s): Michelle Slone

You might also like