Abstract

This study examines how the cultivation effect is impacted by a sudden change in the content of news media reports. A content analysis of newspaper articles about Iceland published in Israel before and after the outbreak of the 2008 economic crisis was used to detect changes in the theme and tone of news reports regarding this country. It was followed by a survey that asked Israelis to give their estimates and views concerning the economic aspects of life in Iceland. Both first order and second order cultivation effects, which correlated media consumption with a positive view of Iceland's economy and corresponded to the pre-crisis image of Iceland in the Israeli media, were noticed. These findings are supportive of the thesis that the long term frequency of media messages is more significant than their recency in establishing a cultivation effect.