How Does Media Influence Public

Opinion on Terrorism? Katlin Eyre, Jordyn Horvath, Noel Jacobson, Evan Schulte, and Dr. Kimberly Zagorski, University of Wisconsin-Stout
Background
• In our research, we found a variety of sources to support our hypothesis.
• It was found that many people fear terrorism, and began to fear it more due
to the media’s continuation of reporting on terrorism. (Brigitte Nacos)
• A correlation between exposure to news media and a fear of terrorism. An
interesting finding from this study was that, fear for one owns self was higher
amongst exposure to TV news media. (Nellis and Savage)
• However, there was no correlation between having a greater attention to
news and a fear of terrorism.
• From the article “Understanding the power of the picture: The effect of image
content on emotional and political responses to terrorism.” specifically
looking at the images of terrorism and the impact it had on emotions and
responses to counter terrorism policy. It found regardless of image
manipulation, there was influence on an individuals views.
• In Trends in Public Opinion on Terrorism we can see reports of people
displaying more fear of terrorism directly after 9-11 and the Iraq war. Also
found was, after these events, it was common for people to express more
Qualitative Analysis
• Survey takers mostly agreed with the FBI definition of terrorism.
• In the first survey, people who disagreed included suggestions for improvement, such as: people committing acts
of violence to be remembered, fear-inducing, religious objectives, threats, and remove objectives because
terrorism causes terror.
• In the second survey people who disagreed listed these suggestions as improvements: trickery, blatant use of
misinformation to sway the viewpoint of the voting American public, should say lawful and unlawful, add religion
as a motivator, and fear.
• One participant from the second survey believed news media was guilty of terrorism, because the promote
misinformation.
• In the first survey, people believed the Las Vegas shooting should be classified as terrorism, while the “Unite the
Right” rally in Charlottesville should not.
• In the second survey most participants believed that both the Las Vegas Shooting and the “Unite the Right” rally
in Charlottesville should be classified as terrorism.
Do you believe news media has changed their coverage of recent What is your main source of media?
terrorist attacks?

concern for terrorism.

• We also see reports of media influencing the opinion of terrorism in the book 45

Projections of power: framing news, public opinion, and U.S. foreign policy.
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33 Social Media
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Hypothesis
• Does media have a bias influence on how the public perceives acts of
22 Online News 38
Sources 30

terrorism through different political frames?

• We Hypothesized that media would have a bias influence on how people view 8 Television
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6 7
acts of terrorism.
YES NEUTRAL NO 0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Survey 1 Survey 2
Survey 1 Survey 2

Data Collection
• We conducted surveys of University of Wisconsin-Stout students and faculty. Conclusion
We had 105 responses for our first survey in the fall of 2017 and 73 Many people receive news from news sources and social media. Within our findings we saw that people disagree with
responses for our second in the spring of 2018.The survey was sent out after how media portrays mass shootings. Within our results we saw many people would classify mass shootings, such as,
the major recent shootings. Our survey asked about news habits, where Las Vegas as terrorism. Unfortunately, media is not classifying mass shootings as terrorism. Two other findings within
people find their knowledge on terrorism and their political identity, and our survey showed participants believe new media shows bias toward the middle east and that we need stronger
opinions related to several political issues. foreign policy to combat terrorism. Ideology of the news source only showed significance with support of Donald
Trump, and the Trump Administration's foreign policy with the first survey. Media bias, can influence what type of
40
How do you identify politically? policy and how supporters of policy makers vote. We found types of news media and terrorism concern did not have
35 36 any significance with political ideology, wanting more proactive foreign policy to combat terrorism, how people
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30 identified politically, support of President Donald Trump, and support of the Trump administration's foreign policy. In
25 26
the spring survey, the frequency of new viewed showed no significance. Our results show that news media does have
PARTICIPANTS

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22 some influence on how individuals view terrorism. Some limitations within our research would be our low survey
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response rate. Another survey limitation was that our survey was only conducted with the University of Wisconsin-
15

10
12
14
Stout community.
5

0
Conservative Liberal Non-partisan Unsure
AFILLIATIONS

Citations
Survey 2 Survey 1
Nacos, Brigitte L. (2002, March 22). Terrorism, the mass media, and the events of 9-11. Phi Kappa Phi Forum, p. 13.
Nellis, Ashley Marie, & Savage, Joanne. (2012). Does Watching the News Affect Fear of Terrorism? The Importance of Media Exposure on Terrorism Fear. Crime & Delinquency, 58(5), 748-768.
yer, A., Webster, J., Hornsey, M., & Vanman, E. (2014). Understanding the power of the picture: The effect of image content on emotional and political responses to terrorism. Journal Of Applied Social Psychology, 44(7), 511-521.
Mueller. J., Stewart, M. G. (2017,May 01). Trends in Public Opinion on Terrorism. Retrieved October 22,
Entman, R. M. (2007). Projections of power: framing news, public opinion, and U.S. foreign policy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.