Understanding how the internet and social media accelerate racial stereotyping and social division: The socially mediated stereotyping model

Over the last two decades, communication scholars have provided mounting evidence for two key observations. First, the news media present a distorted representation of the world regarding crime and race (Dixon & Linz, 2000a; Dixon & Williams, 2015; Entman, 1992; Romer, Jamieson, & de Coteau, 1998; Sorenson, Manz, & Berk, 1998). Second, consumption of these distorted images can reinforce stereotypical notions of various racial groups, especially African Americans (Dixon, 2006a, 2008a; Oliver & Fonash, 2002; Oliver, Jackson, Moses, & Dangerfield, 2004). However, the overwhelming majority of this research has studied the content and effects of traditional media such as television and newspapers. Little work has systematically examined the extent to which the Internet and social media may also reinforce racial prejudice.