INVESTIGATING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MEDIA CONSUMPTION, SYSTEM JUSTIFICATION, AND POLITICAL EFFICACY-RELATED BELIEFS IN THE HUNGARIAN

Media in Hungary plays a key role in shaping these divergent views. This study investigates the relationship between media consumption, system justification, and political efficacy beliefs. System justification refers to the belief that the current system functions properly, while political efficacy is the belief that the system is responsive to its citizens. We hypothesized that different types of media consumption would be associated with varying levels of system justification and political efficacy. Specifically, we expected exclusive pro-government media consumers to show the highest levels of both, while independent media consumers would display the lowest. To test these hypotheses, we used a representative sample of 1,000 Hungarian participants (526 females, 474 males; average age = 45.7, SD = 16.9). Our findings largely supported these expectations: exclusive pro-government media consumption was associated with increased system justification and political efficacy. However, a smaller effect emerged where exclusive independent media consumption was linked to enhanced political efficacy through diminished system justification. These effects remained significant after controlling for age, gender, level of education, place of residence, subjective socioeconomic status, and political party preference. Given the cross-sectional nature of the study, making causal interpretations is challenging. Nonetheless, we propose several speculative explanations for the observed relationships, drawing on the literature on system justification and collective action.