Which side do you support? Cultural proximity and media information exposure in affecting Chinese attitudes towards Russia-Ukraine war

The Russia-Ukraine war impacted the inherent world political pattern and aroused the common concern of the people of all countries. In era of mass communication, information exposure through media influences individuals’ attitudes towards international events. By controlling the texts and images in news reports, this study tests the effects of prior cognition (cultural proximity) and media information exposure related factors on individual attitudes towards Russia-Ukraine war. This study conducted a 2 (information authority: mainstream media information vs. we-media information) x 2 (information attention bias: positive/neutral information attention vs. passive information attention) x 2 (self-construal: independent self vs. interdependent self) web-based experiment on 539 Chinese citizens (M_age= 30, SD = 20.494) during July 2023. Based on mediating and moderating analyses, the results showed that the impact of source credibility on audience attitudes was minimal, while cultural proximity had a strong influence on individuals’ attitudes towards Russia and Ukraine and their levels of support. Additionally, micro-narratives were found to be more effective in evoking anti-war sentiments compared to macro-narratives. As individuals are exposed to more media information, their attitudes become more distinct and less likely to change. This study investigates he applicability of the OSOR model and the ELM model in political communication field, providing insights for understanding the effects of media information exposure in shaping public’s opinions on internationally events.