Eric Cooks, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications STEM Translational Communication Center Postdoctoral Associate, is the co-author of “Hostile Media Perception on Twitter: The Effect of Mediated Social Identity Cues on Biased Perception” published in the Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media on Nov. 11.

Cooks and Anneliese Bolland examined the effects of comment identity on hostile media perception.

According to the authors, “Advancements in communication technology have altered the context in which humans interact. Asynchronous communication between individuals with no preexisting ties is now commonplace, and communicative interactions which previously would have held a limited audience now have a global reach.”

They add, “Results of this study provide empirical support for theoretical claims about social identity and hostile media perception. It reveals that social media features and affordances may operate in line with a self-categorization explanation to elicit intergroup differentiation that affects biased perception of news media. These findings resonate with the growing consensus that online comments have a significant impact on judgments of news content.”

Posted: November 22, 2021
Category: College News, STEM Center News