When news and memory come apart: A cross-national comparison of countries’ mentions

What is it about?

Prominent communication theories find a strong association between the news and our perception of the world. In this article, we compare the country names mentioned in the news with those recalled from the memory of individuals from four different nationalities: the United States, Israel, China, and Switzerland. Our findings suggest a more nuanced relationship between the news and memory. Larger and stronger countries are prominent in both news and memory. Countries engaged in conflicts or major events are more prominent in the news but less so in memory, while countries with social and geographical proximity are more prominent in our memory but less so in the news. These findings call for revision of the theory accordingly.

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