View article

A recent examination of television fiction produced and consumed within the European Union found that overwhelmingly, content produced in a specific country was also preferred by members of that country, or when there is a shared culture or history between the producers and consumers (European Audiovisual Observatory [EAO], 2019). Scholars have long argued that media entertainment is a cultural artifact, influenced and determined by values integral to the producers and consumers of the product (Fu, 2013; Straubhaar, Fuentes, Giraud, & Campbell, 2002; Trepte, 2006). However, preference for locally produced media is only one side of the coin—the other is understanding the effect of media on viewers. Gerbner and Gross (1976) have stated that shared media exposure works to enculturate viewers to a shared set of prevailing outlooks and social relationships which fit an established social order. This echoes earlier sentiments by Klapper (1960) suggesting the function of media is to consolidate cultural values. Yet how and why values matter in media selection and effects, and how to measure and operationalize the relationships observed, has proven difficult (eg, Trepte, 2006), perhaps due to the lack of broad models of media effects that incorporate group-based values, and vice versa, across the various disciplines involved. One of the more recent attempts to synthesize group-based values, media selection, and media effects across both individual and societal levels is the model of intuitive morality and exemplars (MIME; Tamborini 2011, 2013). The MIME is a heuristic framework that explains why some media stories may be more …