Abstract

“Cosmopoliteness” has been invoked as a dimension reflecting people’s broader outlook on life. People who are more cosmopolitan are more interested in public affairs and world events, thus are expected to show a greater interest in international conflict and subject themselves to the images that cultivate a view that the world is a scary place.  Cosmopolitan people are also expected to be less isolated and to be more knowledgeable about other cultures, allowing them to filter the impact of such media images in the cultivation process.  Using reporting of modern terrorism as a backdrop, this study seeks to broaden our understanding of cosmopoliteness by explicating its relationship to communication activities and tolerance of other cultures as well as knowledge about news and current events. The pattern of relationships among different dimensions of cosmopoliteness supports the diverse literature but also warns us to not expect a universal correspondence between diverse interests, a wealth of knowledge about cultures and current events, cosmopolitan identification, and both an appreciation and tolerance of different cultures.  The findings suggesting that knowledge and appreciation go together are discussed in the context of prospects that people will develop a cosmopolitan identification or tolerance of different cultures. 

Key Words: Terrorism, Cosmopolitan People, Cosmopoliteness, Media Images, Media Use.

^JCMRJournal of Communication and Media Research, Vol. 6, No. 1, April 2014, 1 – 23 

©Delmas Communications Ltd.

About the authors

^*Leo W. Jeffres,  ^**Cheryl C. Bracken, ^***Kimberly Neuendorf, and  ^****Jennifer Kopfman are with the School of Communication, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A.

^*****David J. Atkin is with the Department of Communication, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, U.S.A.

Full Article

Words: 7,235; Pages: 23