News Aggregation and Content Differences in Online Cancer News

Gatekeepers usually control news information. However, recent technological advancements might require rethinking previous gatekeeping hierarchies. Aggregation algorithms currently filter and present news information to millions of American Internet users daily. A content analysis demonstrates significant differences between health news content retrieved from Web sites that aggregate their articles from many sources (e.g., Google News), and those that focus on providing news from a limited number of sources (e.g., CNN.com). Explanations for these content differences are discussed, as are implications concerning health information seeking and Internet news consumption.     

数字化时代新闻发布制度的创新研究--以“北京亦庄创新发布”为例

新闻发布制度作为政府政务公开的重要组成部分和连接政府与社会公众之间的桥梁,面对数字化时代带来的新挑战,也应积极利用当前丰富的信息流通与社会联系手段,加以不断的完善和补充,创新发布形式,整合发布内容。本文以"北京亦庄创新发布"为研究案例,发现数字化时代下新闻发布制度在信息发布互动性、传播渠道融合和内容共享三个维度创新潜力大,并通过归纳发布主体、内容、对象、方式、效果、组织六个方面进行的模式创新,实现技术创新、平台搭建、渠道拓展、需求清单化,最终实现新闻发布制度的革新,不断提高政府新闻工作的公信力和影响力。     

The Role of Engagement in Learning From Active and Incidental News Exposure on Social Media

The growing reliance on social media as news platforms may lead to more passive news consumption but also offers greater potential for engaging in news. This study investigates the role of engagement with news content on Facebook and Twitter between news exposure and current events knowledge. An online survey (N = 400) tests the relationships between social media news seeking, incidental exposure to news on social media, engagement in shared news content, cognitive elaboration, and current events knowledge. The results show that both active seeking of and incidental exposure to news on both sites are linked to engagement, which is linked to greater cognitive elaboration about the content. Furthermore, engagement mediates the relationship between both types of news exposure and cognitive elaboration. However, engagement and elaboration are not related to knowledge. These results indicate that the key role of social media in news content is not knowledge gain but the ability to engage users who may be passively receiving news on these sites. This study extends the cognitive mediation model of learning from the news in the context of current social media, with updated news consumption norms such as engagement with news on these sites, and incidental news exposure.     

“And That’s a Fact!”: The Roles of Political Ideology,PSRs, and Perceived Source Credibility in Estimating Factual Content in Partisan News

Cable news schedule today is programed with a transition between objective reporting and subjective commentary. With this in mind, we address the question: to what extent does political ideology impact one’s estimation of factual content in the monologue of a partisan news host? Going beyond direct effects, we analyze two moderated mediation models, using news host as moderator and using parasocial relationship and source credibility as parallel mediators. Results show like-minded partisanship with a news host led to higher estimates of factual content, and this effect worked indirectly through credibility perceptions. Additionally, this process occurred more intensely for conservatives.     

The Influence of Message and Audience Characteristics on TV News Grazing Behavior

This study examined television news channel changing (AKA grazing, zapping) behavior by focusing on the viewing duration and attention paid to stories that varied in sensational content and packaging. These two message-related factors had independent and interactive effects on how long grazers stayed tuned to a channel. Moreover, high sensation seekers, who were more avid news consumers in everyday life, exhibited different viewing and attentional patterns compared to low sensation seekers. While arousing television news was the most watched by all, high sensation seekers unexpectedly showed less preference for sensational tabloid packaging of arousing content than low sensation seekers.     

Race and Ethnicity in local Television News: Framing,Story Assignments,and Source Selections

Because local television has become the primary source for news, this study examined race and ethnicity in news stories, story assignments, and source selections. A content analysis of local newscasts found Latinos, Asian Americans, and Native Americans were virtually invisible as anchors, reporters, and subjects in the news. Although African Americans anchored and reported the news in some markets, overall there was segregation in story assignments. Rarely were Latinos, Asian Americans, or Native Americans interviewed as news sources. African Americans were used as news sources more than other racial and ethnic groups when 2 or more people were interviewed.     

Setting a Non-Agenda: Effects of a Perceived Lack of Problems in Recent News or Twitter

The mere perception that news has given certain problems more coverage can lead the audience to assume that those problems are more important. Given that the news media, at times, obsesses over relatively trivial matters, and given that the audience is increasingly able to filter media exposure, it is worth asking what happens when audience members perceive that recent media coverage has not emphasized any very important problems. In such cases, audience members might assume that any problems facing the nation must not be particularly important. We explicate this attitude of political complacency, test whether perceived media agendas lacking important problems can influence it, and explore whether complacency helps explain political disengagement. We also explore whether these effects generalize beyond news, to new media gatekeepers such as Twitter. Two experiments tested effects of a perceived absence of important problems in recent news or Twitter content. In the case of news, but not Twitter, this increased complacency in both studies. Study 2 added a no-exposure control and found that effects on complacency were driven by the cueing of nonproblem stories, not by the absence of problem story cues. Both studies validated complacency as a predictor of political disengagement.     

Corporate communications and the rise of the network society

In an integrated media environment where news networks seek synergistic opportunities for their parent companies, news content is increasingly susceptible to promotional influence. A comparative content analysis of new and traditional news spaces on U.S. cable television news networks Cable News Network, MSNBC, and Fox News Channel examined the video screen space and the news crawl, or “ticker,” space. Findings reveal that, proportionally, more promotional content occurs within the traditional video content space when compared to the ticker space. However, it was also shown that the ticker acts as a general branding agent for 2 of the 3 networks. Content dispersion also suggests a unique “content identity” for each news brand. The study found no evidence of “covert” promotion for synergistic gain—a positive result for news consumers.     

In Defense of “Mass Communication” and Other Stuff

A consistent news frame that deligitmizes and depicts most social protests as "police vs. protesters" has been identified in studies of news coverage of social movements. This study used an experimental design to examine the extent to which photographs and prior attitudes toward protests and protesters in general contribute to previously identified framing effects of protest news. Results indicated that for the protest issue of interest evaluations of the protest and protesters were more negative when photos depicting higher levels of conflict were shown. The amount of conflict shown in the photos did not affect evaluations of the protest and protesters when the issue was of less interest to participants. Additionally, participants who had more positive prior attitudes toward protesting in general were more likely to identify with the protesters in the stimulus story and to perceive that the protest was more effective than were those with more negative prior attitudes. Findings suggest the need to address possible nuances associated with the visuals alone and to incorporate prior attitudes when examining effects of news coverage of protests.     

From #Ferguson to #Ayotzinapa: Analyzing Differences in Domestic and Foreign Protest News Shared on Social Media

This study compares U.S. digital news coverage of recent foreign and domestic protests. Differences in coverage’s framing, sourcing, and device emphases were analyzed for two cases: protests that erupted after the death of Michael Brown and protests demanding justice for the 43 missing students from Ayotzinapa, Mexico. Building on protest paradigm literature, content analysis results show that news articles that appeared on Facebook and Twitter emphasized legitimizing frames for foreign protests more than domestic protests. Foreign protests were framed with the spectacle frame more than domestic protests, which were more often portrayed as confrontational. Digitally native news organizations produced content that deviated from expected paradigmatic norms the most. In addition, this research examines the relationship between content and sharing on Facebook and Twitter. Implications of these findings within the theoretical framework of the protest paradigm are discussed.     

Attention cycles and the H1N1 pandemic: a cross-national study of US and Korean newspaper coverage

This study analyzes US and South Korean news coverage of the H1N1 pandemic to examine cross-cultural variations in attention cycle patterns, cited sources, and news frames. A content analysis was conducted on 630 articles from US and Korean newspapers during the period of April to October 2009. It found that attention cycle patterns, news frames, and sources varied across the two countries according to professional norms, cultural values, social ideologies, and occurrences of relevant events. While US news coverage showed two phases of waxing and waning attention, Korean news coverage showed five phases. The frames used in US news stories placed more emphasis on attribution of responsibility, action, and reassurance. Other framing variations were found as news attention in each country rose and fell. Regarding sources used, Korean news stories relied more on governmental sources, while US news stories used a greater diversity of sources. This study advances research on variations in the attention cycle for transnational issues by specifying how journalists’ framing of social problems can differ according to the following: cultural factors, the shape of the news attention cycle, and the occurrence of events related to the issue at hand.     

Sharing Good and Bad News with Friends and Strangers: Reasons for and Communication Behaviors Associated with the MUM Effect

People are reluctant to share bad news. Reasons include self-presentation and sensitivity to receiver emotionality. An experiment investigated these reasons during interactions between friends and strangers. Females (N = 330, 165 dyads) gave good or bad news to a close friend or stranger. Time to response was recorded. The MUM effect replicated for both friends and strangers. No main effects for friend/stranger or interaction between friend/stranger and news valence were found. Data were more consistent with a self-presentation explanation. Behavioral data were also analyzed to explore communicative behavior that accompanies the sharing of good and bad news. Limitations and implications are discussed.     

Views from the Margins: News Coverage of Women in Abortion Protests, 1960–2006

This study links two traditionally marginalized groups in media coverage: women and protesters. Both have generally been found to be underrepresented and misrepresented in mainstream news coverage. Employing a content analysis of abortion protest coverage over 46 years, this study assesses the impact of protesters' goals and tactics on the proportion of women in news coverage. Results indicate that female mentions were more likely to appear when protesters supported the status quo and when protesters were treated more favorably in coverage. Overall, however, the focus on men as sources over women as sources remained quite apparent. Implications for news treatment of women in protest coverage are discussed.     

Keeping Our Research Up to Date: Is the Election Cycle Too Fast for Scholarship=

This research scrutinizes 5 background assumptions frequently overlooked by scholars working within the third-person framework. These include: the kind of media influence (general vs. specific) referenced by respondents, the use of general versus specific "other" groups, neglect of likely second-person effects, distinguishing the problem as portrayed from the problem itself, and the potential range of behavioral effects. The study probed the influence of racial cues contained in a news story on estimates of the story's influence on self and others. Participants (n = 152) were presented with a news article conveying information that prostitutes were operating in a local neighborhood and local residents were upset. The study varied 2 experimental factors: the race of the prostitutes (White vs. African American) and the racial composition of the neighborhood residents (minority vs. White). Several important findings emerged from the study. First, manipulated elements of story content had a direct effect on estimates of the portrayal's influence on others. Second, the range of effects attributed to the media included specific factors such as thinking, feeling, problem importance, and harmful impact of the content. In addition to considering media censorship as a possible corrective measure, the study explored the influence of first-, second-, and third-person effects on a broader range of suggested actions, including increased criminal penalties and interpersonal discussion. Third-person "perceptual" effects were found throughout the data; however, they had little discernable effect on intended behaviors. Second-person effects significantly predicted proposed remedial actions and opinion expression. Discussion centers on the prospect of reorienting the third-person framework toward an expanded view of media effects and closer integration with other approaches to mass communication.     

News Habits Among Adolescents: The Influence of Family Communication on Adolescents’ News Media Use—Evidence From a Three-Wave Panel Study

Keeping up with what’s going on in the world of politics and current affairs through various news media is commonly seen as important for civic engagement and informed citizenship. Today, however, citizens face more opportunities than ever to select media content according to their personal preferences and interests—leading to what previous research has identified as a polarization between news-seekers and news-avoiders. Given heightened concerns regarding growing shares of news-avoiders in particular, this study analyzes the development, stability, and family influences on Swedish adolescents’ news habits over time. The findings, based on panel survey data among adolescents and their parents, show that (a) news habits are fairly stable at the individual level, (b) parents’ own news consumption is the most consistent predictor of adolescents’ development of news habits, and (c) these family effects are distinct from adolescents’ personal motivations for seeking out news.     

Attribute Priming Effects and Presidential Candidate Evaluation: The Conditionality of Political Sophistication

Traditionally, two competing claims have arisen that attempt to explain the role of political sophistication in media effectiveness. I reassess the positive versus negative impacts of political sophistication on media priming effects by considering a curvilinear approach. I combine public opinion data (National Election Studies) on candidate selection criteria in 1992 and 2000 presidential elections with content analyses of campaign news coverage to see which segment of voters at different sophistication levels is most susceptible to media agendas. Quadratic regression analyses reveal that an inverted U-shaped relationship exists between voters' susceptibility to campaign news and their level of political sophistication. Such a curvilinear relationship means that the moderately sophisticated are more likely to accept news agendas than the least or most sophisticated. The findings illuminate the long-standing debate about the inconsistent linear relationships between the two variables, providing a more cogent explanation underlying media priming effects.     

Not All Countries Are Created Equal: Foreign Countries Prevalence in U.S. News and Entertainment Media

Why do some countries appear more popular than others in mass media? Although researchers have long sought to explain foreign countries’ prevalence in the media, to date they have exclusively focused on news, leaving other types of media content unexplored. In addition, focusing on media effects and media content, the literature on entertainment and politics has largely ignored the study of agenda-building processes. Thus, this study fills these gaps by exploring factors affecting the volume of references to foreign countries in both U.S. news and entertainment media. Analyzing more than 400 U.S. television shows, four news channels, and two newspapers spanning from 2000 to 2011, we reexamine past findings on salience of foreign countries in the news and apply these findings to a new field of research, entertainment media. We further suggest that the same factors shaping foreign countries’ prevalence in the news media are applicable to both news and entertainment and that in the context of foreign countries’ prevalence, the criteria for “newsworthiness” and “fictionworthiness” is similar.     

Trends in Network News Editing Strategies From 1969 Through 2005

Four editing variables were tracked through a content analysis of U.S. commercial network editing that spanned a 36-year period. The analysis revealed that synthetic-montage increased and continuity-realism decreased from 1969 through 1997. Network news editors also embraced faster pacing, shorter soundbites, and more special effects between 1969 and 2005. When taken together, the results suggest that U.S. network television journalism has evolved from more “camera of record” and realistic news techniques in favor of a variety of synthetic editing strategies that convey complex audio-visual arguments.     

Competition in Danish Television News

We studied competitive behavior within Danish network television news to determine differences between broadcasts of the government-funded, public network and the commercially funded, private network. Denmark offers a unique opportunity to study the effect of competition and commercialism on national television news broadcasts because the country had a state monopoly television network until 1988, when a commercial network was introduced. Results reveal there is differentiation between the news broadcasts, but we argue that competition has not had deleterious effects on content but, conversely, has resulted in improvements in the content of state television.