Mediated Nationalism: Press Freedom, Mass Media, and Nationalism - Analysis of World Values Survey to Establish Levels of Nationalist Attitudes, Factors Manipulated for Nationalism Within Countries

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This research seeks to identify the underlying factors in the production of nationalism. Using the World Values Survey to establish levels of nationalist attitudes, the author uses quantitative analysis to examine how levels of nationalism change in response to nationalistic terminology transmitted through online news media. Additionally, this thesis analyzes the relationship between press freedom and levels of nationalist word use in the online news media. The findings demonstrate that a free press has a positive effect on the use of some forms of nationalist terminology in the news and a negative effect on others. The evidence also shows that certain nationalist terminology in news media is associated with substantial increases in nationalist attitudes. These findings show promise for better understanding of factors that can be manipulated to influence levels of nationalism within a country.

I. INTRODUCTION * A. METHOD * B. SIGNIFICANCE * II. LITERATURE REVIEW * A. NATIONALISM THEORY * B. MEDIA CENSORSHIP AND NATIONALISM * 1. Mass Media's Ability to Influence * 2. Press Freedom and Nationalism * III. PERSUASIVE POWER OF THE NEWS MEDIA * A. NEWS MEDIA BIASES * B. PERSUASIVE NEWS AND PROPAGANDA * 1. U.S. Nationalist Propaganda in WWII * 2. German Propaganda in WWII * IV. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY * A. HYPOTHESIS ONE * 1. Dependent Variables * 2. Independent Variables * 3. Beta Regression Model * B. HYPOTHESIS TWO * 1. Dependent Variable * 2. Independent Variables * 3. Logistic Regression Model * V. RESULTS * A. PRESS FREEDOM AND MEDIA NARRATIVES * B. MEDIA NARRATIVES AND NATIONALIST ATTITUDES * VI. CONCLUSION * A. IMPLICATIONS * B. CAVEATS * C. FUTURE STUDIES ON NATIONALISM

With the recent United States (U.S.) Presidential election, the British decision to exit the European Union (EU), and nationalist leaders and parties in Europe gaining political ground, these societies appear to be embracing nationalism to an increasing degree. This rise of nationalism and its ability to unite or divide communities, can have security implications globally as nationalist parties quite often attempt to repress communities they identify as their opposition. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the mechanisms that promote nationalism.