Keywords: News, media, journalism and public opinion

The political situation in Europe has changed in the past few years. In particular, the past years were marked by international crises, in which different countries had different interests, and in which a critical public opinion against other countries was observable.
One important crisis was the European debt crisis. Notably, Greece was affected by the crisis. In the very conflictual negotiations on financial support and requirements for Greece, the German government played an important role. German and Greece media extensively reported about the debt crisis and the negotiations, especially in 2015 but also later. For most people it was hardly possible to follow media coverage in the respectively other country directly. Nevertheless, individuals may develop assumptions about how the media in the respectively other country reported. Therefore, it is promising to examine how coverage about the debt crisis by German and Greece media was perceived by the population in the respectively other country, and which consequences these perceptions had.
The theoretical basis: First, the hostile media effect (HME) – it states that individuals tend to perceive media coverage about political crises/conflicts as hostile towards their own group and position (Vallone et al., 1985). Second, the influence of presumed influence approach (IoPMI) – it states that individuals often assume that media coverage has strong influences on others (Gunther & Storey, 2003).
Both perceptions have consequences (Tsfati & Cohen, 2013). In the case at hand, it was tested if they lead to stronger feelings of polarization – for example the perception that one’s country is not respected in the other country, or that other country’s citizens are thankless or demand punishments against one’s own country. It was hypothesized: (1) The more the people in Germany and Greece perceive media coverage in the other country about their own country as hostile, the more intensive their feelings of polarization (HME hypothesis). (2) The stronger the people in Germany and Greece perceive the influence of media coverage in the other country about their own country to be, the more intensive their feelings of polarization (IoPMI hypothesis).
In autumn 2016, online surveys were conducted among German (n=492) and Greece citizens (n=484) regarding the debt crisis. The samples were approximately representative of the states’ population. Results show that German respondents were accusing Greek media of having reported negatively about Germany. Vice versa, the Greeks assumed Greek-hostile coverage in German media. Moreover, the respondents suspected a noticeable influence of the coverage on the citizens in the respectively other country. Further analyses (including numerous control variables) indicate that, as predicted, assumptions of a hostile and influenceable reporting of the respective foreign media about one’s own country led to intensified feelings of polarization.
Consequently, the results give information about influences of media-related perceptions on public opinion in international contexts, and indicate that perceptions of media coverage and influence can have conflict-intensifying effects. Problems such as the debt crisis are not seen as common challenge, but as a conflict, in which rivaling countries face each other.