The impact of constructive news on affective and behavioural responses
The impact of constructive news on affective and behavioural responses
The fact that the news has a negativity bias is relatively undisputed. But is this a matter for concern? In this study, two experiments explored the impact of different types of constructive news stories on readers’ affect, motivation, and behavioural intentions. Study 1 examined news stories with either a solution frame or catastrophic frame, and Study 2 examined stories that evoked either positive or negative emotions. Findings revealed that catastrophically-framed stories and news stories that evoked negative emotions reduced intentions to take positive action to address issues, and resulted in negative affect. In contrast, solution-framed stories and news stories that evoked positive emotions resulted in more positive affect and higher intentions to take positive action and were still perceived as legitimate journalism. Respondents expressed a greater preference for solution-framed news. The conclusion is that more constructive journalism would better serve society.
1940-1959
Baden, Denise
daad83b9-c537-4d3c-bab6-548b841f23b5
Mcintyre, Karen
280d59d1-9b7d-48df-8c2f-c86b5ec16bdf
Homberg, Fabian
31042a5c-cd37-46a1-bdde-53abb55f1072
2019
Baden, Denise
daad83b9-c537-4d3c-bab6-548b841f23b5
Mcintyre, Karen
280d59d1-9b7d-48df-8c2f-c86b5ec16bdf
Homberg, Fabian
31042a5c-cd37-46a1-bdde-53abb55f1072
Baden, Denise, Mcintyre, Karen and Homberg, Fabian
(2019)
The impact of constructive news on affective and behavioural responses.
Journalism Studies, 20 (13), .
(doi:10.1080/1461670X.2018.1545599).
Abstract
The fact that the news has a negativity bias is relatively undisputed. But is this a matter for concern? In this study, two experiments explored the impact of different types of constructive news stories on readers’ affect, motivation, and behavioural intentions. Study 1 examined news stories with either a solution frame or catastrophic frame, and Study 2 examined stories that evoked either positive or negative emotions. Findings revealed that catastrophically-framed stories and news stories that evoked negative emotions reduced intentions to take positive action to address issues, and resulted in negative affect. In contrast, solution-framed stories and news stories that evoked positive emotions resulted in more positive affect and higher intentions to take positive action and were still perceived as legitimate journalism. Respondents expressed a greater preference for solution-framed news. The conclusion is that more constructive journalism would better serve society.
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CJ paper JS titlesubmit_2910
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Accepted/In Press date: 13 November 2018
e-pub ahead of print date: 13 November 2018
Published date: 2019
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 426981
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/426981
ISSN: 1461-670X
PURE UUID: 374ca6da-da92-436f-83dc-481a1dd28a60
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Date deposited: 19 Dec 2018 17:30
Last modified: 26 Jul 2024 04:01
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Author:
Karen Mcintyre
Author:
Fabian Homberg
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