Study Indicates Media Influences Perception of Terrorism

A national survey of 1,000 Americans indicates that nearly two-thirds of respondents feel the media has influenced their views on the importance of terrorism as a national problem, according to the Jimirro Center for the Study of Media Influence at Penn State.

However, respondents did note that while they were influenced by media reports on terrorism, they did not necessarily take related action.

"This study clearly shows that Americans' views about the threat of terrorism are shaped at least in part by the media," said Ann Major, director of the center and associate professor of communications. “However, we have not found that the news media are effective in motivating preparedness behaviors.”

The Jimirro Center study was conducted by telephone nationwide among 1,023 people ages 18 and older from April 25-27. The sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.

More than 65 percent of respondents indicated that media reports have shaped their views about the terrorism problem. Of that total, 29.2 percent responded that media reports have exerted "a lot of influence" on their views, while 35.3 percent said the media's terrorism coverage has had "quite a bit of influence" on their perceptions of terrorism as a national problem.

The Penn State researcher added that 87 percent of respondents thought the terrorism problem was either "very" or "extremely" important. Nearly 62 percent reported that the problem was important-and that their beliefs had been shaped by the media. Only 7.9 percent of respondents said the problem was unimportant and that their beliefs had not been shaped by the news.

"The results indicate that media coverage is heightening citizens' awareness of the terrorism problem, and shaping the public view that terrorism continues to be an important issue," Major said, noting that the study also asked respondents to gauge the impact that talking to others about terrorism had on their views.

Of the nearly two-thirds of respondents who credited the news with influencing their beliefs, nearly half also said their beliefs had been influenced by conversations with others.

However, just one-third of respondents said that while news influenced their beliefs about the terrorist threat, they did nothing to prepare for a possible attack. Another 31.7 percent who reported being influenced by news reports on terrorism said they had taken unspecified steps to combat the problem. More than half of respondents said they had not cancelled travel plans, in spite of admitting to media influence, and almost 45 percent said they had not changed the way they handled mail, in spite of being influenced by news reports on terrorism.

"In this case, the media seems to be heightening awareness of a possible danger, but without a direct, imminent threat, the reports are not causing Americans to significantly change their daily lives," Major said. “There are several reasons for this."

First, news stories generally are written with quotes from experts who disagree with one another. One expert is quoted as saying that a disaster in imminent and that citizens should engage in these specific behaviors to prepare, and then another expert is quoted that it is very unlikely that the disaster is actually going to take place.

“Rather than serving to inform the public about the proper preparations to make, the stories leave readers with a sense of ambiguity because even the experts don't agree. Furthermore, stories often fail to clearly outline the steps that people need to take to prepare for disasters,” added Major. “The threat of terrorism presents an even more difficult scenario for government sources and hazards experts to deal with because it is almost impossible to predict what kind of act terrorists may undertake. The appropriate preparations are quite different for a biological terrorist attack when compared with the bombing of a building or the poisoning of the water supply."

The study also showed that the security alert system itself is too vague. The public has little understanding of the difference between the color alerts and what preparations are necessary to undertake for each color alert. The Department of Homeland Security needs to work diligently to refine and simplify the system and educate the public about the appropriate actions to take in the event of a terrorist attack, says the Penn State researcher.

“Plus, the news media stories must be followed up by local and state preparedness programs that include practice drills,” Major said.

Previous research has shown that citizens seldom alter their behaviors in response to media reports, unless presented with an actual, impending danger, she added.

Based in Penn State’s College of Communcations, the Jimirro Center is dedicated to conducting opinion research that examines the influence of the news media on the public.

Jimirro Center
contact information:
Ann Marie Major, director
Phone: (814) 863-2370
Email:amm17@psu.edu

More about the Center:
About Jim Jimirro
Board of Directors
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