Media Polarization in Sweden : A statistical investigation of the populist-establishment divide

This study investigates the effect of media consumption on out-group attitudes across the "establishment vs, populist radical-right" divide in Sweden.The research question is: "How does media consumption, specifically social media news and public service broadcasting, relate to out-group attitudes among SD and S partisans and is the relationship between social media news and out-group attitudes different among individuals who consume Aktuellt/Rapport more?".The investigation is based upon data from the Swedish SOMinstitute and is analysed through a series of regression models with interaction terms and marginal effects.Social Media News and the SVT news programs, Aktuellt and Rapport (as a combined variable) are the investigated media.The Sweden Democrats (SD) and The Social Democrats (S) are the partisan groups investigated.The results show us that social media consumption is associated with more negative out-group attitudes within both groups.The association between Aktuellt/Rapport consumption and out-group attitudes varies between the two groups, questioning previous research.Most notably the study shows a consistent effect where, the negative association between social media and out-group attitudes is smaller among individuals who consume Aktuellt and Rapport more.This result provides nuance to the way we understand how media consumption and out-group attitudes are connected.The Inoculation framework is introduced as a potentially fruitful lenses for further research.