The Effects of News Coverage of Hate Speech Prosecution of Anti-Immigrant Party Leaders on Anti-Immigrant Party Support

In the past, several anti-immigrant party leaders have been prosecuted for hate speech, which has been argued to yield consequences for these parties’ electoral performance. Hate speech prosecution of a party leader may affect anti-immigrant parties’ perceived legitimacy and effectiveness, subsequently impacting their electoral support. However, despite a large body of literature empirically validating the influence of news coverage on anti-immigrant party support, news coverage of prosecution of anti-immigrant party leaders for hate speech has attracted far less scholarly attention. Still, these trials are likely to be mediatized. Given the importance of news coverage as an information source for voters, news coverage of the prosecution of anti-immigrant party leaders is expected to affect electoral support for these parties. Combining aggregate-level media and public opinion data in the Dutch context, the current study’s primary aim is to assess the effects of the salience and the framing of news coverage about the hate speech prosecution of PVV leader Wilders on PVV party support will be assessed. Expectations are that the salience of news coverage for the PVV or Wilders in general, following agenda-setting theory, will boost PVV party support, while a focus on legal prosecution will negatively affect PVV party support. Additionally, the type of framing is hypothesized to matter: while the framing of hate speech prosecution against Wilders as a political settlement or an attack on the freedom of expression is anticipated to increase PVV party support, its framing as a necessary instrument in order to eradicate racism and discrimination is expected to decrease PVV party support.