The Effects of Social Identities and Issue Involvement on Perceptions of Media Bias Against Gun Owners and Intention to Participate in Discursive Activities: In the Context of the Media Coverage of Mass Shootings

This study examined how news audience’s predispositions (value and outcome involvement, political and gun ownership identities) predicted perceived media bias in mass shooting coverage against gun owners and intention to participate in discursive activities concerning gun issues. Republicans, strong identifiers of gun ownership, and those who perceived the outcome of tightening gun ownership would affect their lives predicted perceptions of media bias. Strong party identifiers, gun ownership identifiers, and those who displayed outcome involvement predicted intention to participate in discursive activities. Perceived media bias was not found to predict the intention to participate in discursive activities concerning gun issues. The results extended the theoretical discussion of corrective action hypothesis and increased our understanding of both individual-level (personal involvement) and social-psychological level (social identities) factors relevant to biased media perception.