Democratic Consequences of Hostile Media Perceptions The Case of Gaza Settlers Yariv Tsfati and Jonathan Cohen In this article,the authors examine the consequences of the hostile-media phenome- non and advance the argument that people’s perceptions of hostile coverage shape their trust in mainstream media institutions.Media trust in turn affectstrust in democ- racy and willingness to accept democratic decisions. T hese ideas are tested on a sam- ple of Jewish Settlers in the G aza Strip,in the weeks before a Likud Par ty vote on Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s plan to pull out of the Gaza Strip and evacuate settlers from their homes. Findings show that hostile media perceptions were negatively related to settlers’ trust in media and that trust in media waspositively related to trust in democracy, which, in turn, affected settlers’ intentions to forcefully resist Sharon’s evacuation plan. N o direct association was found between hostile media perceptions and intentions to forcefully resist evacuation. Keywords: hostile media perceptions;trust in media;trust in democracy; Gaza settler Democracy serves as a mechanism for solving disputes between opposing ideol- ogies and groups through debate and discourse. This mechanism encourages people to obey laws they disagree with and that go against their individual inter- ests in the name of majority rule and of the collective good. In this sense, democ- racy replaces the use of force as a coordinating principle, allowing the conduct of social life. News media are central to this process, both as forums for exchanging views—outlets for attempting to persuade a majority of the people—and tools for disseminating information necessary for collective deliberation. Though people are often critical of news coverage and are aware that the information provided by the media is not always perfect, the media remain an important social institution for democratic deliberation. 28 Press/ Politics 10(4):28-51 DOI: 10.1177/ 1081180X05280776 © 2005 by the President and the Fellows of Harvard College