民眾對媒體多元的認知：社經地位的鴻溝

Abstract

當新聞能反映多元價值時，才能代表不同民眾的立場，而民眾如何評價媒體多元？本研究分別引用敵意媒體效果和知溝理論，前者意指民眾會傾向認為媒體對自身團體的報導有敵意，較不認為媒體能夠進行多元報導；後者則認為，低社經地位者認知媒體多元報導的能力相對較弱，相較之下，知溝理論能提供更準確的解釋。本研究發現，社經地位高者對媒體多元的看法較負面，這可能與他們能深入理解、思考問題有關，他們是較練達、批判的公民。社經地位較低者對於媒體多元的看法較正面，可能源於他們對媒體的近用程度較低，降低媒體對他們報導不公的認知。

When the media is pluralistic, it can represent different attitudes among the public. This study applies the hostile media effect and knowledge-gap theory. The former suggests that people tend to think the media is hostile toward their group and cannot report a diversity of opinions, to the extent that there are differences among members of the public from different backgrounds regarding whether media coverage is pluralistic. The latter theory posits that people of lower social-economic status are unable to perceive whether or not the media reports diverse opinions. Our study shows that knowledge gap theory provides a more precise explanation. We found that people of higher socio-economic status tended to doubt the media`s capacity for pluralism. This finding suggests the possibility that people of higher socio-economic standing may be more prone to the hostile media effect. Possibly due to their deeper understanding of and concern for public affairs, people in this demographic may represent a more sophisticated and critical sector of the public. People of lower socio-economic standing showed a comparatively sanguine assessment of pluralism in the media and less perception of a hostile media effect toward their social group. This finding might result from less access to media among this demographic, which may lower awareness of unfairness in the media toward this sector of the public.