Addressing a Blind Spot in Selective Exposure Research: Perceptions of Media Bias and Their Effects on Mainstream Media Use. A Mediation Analysis

According to selective exposure theory, people tend to select news media that are perceived to provide attitude-consonant information and avoid those that are perceived to provide dissonant information. Despite this, research on selective exposure seldom takes people’s perceptions of media bias into account, while research on perceptions of media bias seldom links such perceptions to subsequent media use. To address this, the purpose of this study is to investigate perceptions of mainstream media bias and whether such perceptions mediate the effect of using political alternative media on subsequent mainstream media use. Empirically, the study utilizes a three-wave panel survey during the 2022 Swedish parliamentary election campaign to investigate perceptions of public service media bias and subsequent use of public service media. Among other things, the results show that the use of right-wing political alternative media influences perceptions of leftist public service bias, which in turn mediates the effect of using right-wing alternative media on subsequent public service media use.