We investigate the nexus between TV watching and the general public opinion about the impact of immigrants on the economies of destination countries using evidence from the European Social Survey. We find, as expected, that low skilled workers and less educated respondents have a more negative view, likely due to the stronger competition threat they suffer from immigrants. Second, and more surprising, time spent watching TV gives a strong and significant contribution to the negative opinions on the role of immigrants. Over-representation of negative events involving migrants and lack of migrants voice on TV are two likely rationales consistent with our findings.

我们使用欧洲社会调查的证据，调查了电视观看和公众舆论之间关于移民对目的地国家经济的影响之间的联系。正如我们所料，我们发现，低技能工人和受教育程度较低的受访者持较为消极的态度，这很可能是由于他们遭受移民带来的更大的竞争威胁。其次，更令人惊讶的是，花在看电视上的时间为对移民角色的负面看法做出了强大而重要的贡献。涉及移民的负面事件的过多描述和电视上缺乏移民的声音是与我们的发现相一致的两个可能的理由。