NEWSROOM'S NORMAL ACCIDENT?

This study examines 10 recent high-profile cases of journalistic deceptions at major American news organizations, and analyzes deceptive news and authentic news in a comparative perspective. Applying disaster incubation theory and normal accident theory to newsrooms, it focuses on how newsroom organizational culture contributes to journalistic deceptions. Results suggest that prior to the final revelation of a reporter's deception, an incubation period occurs during which a “first flag”—an initial warning signal often related to the reporter's earliest work that gives rise to suspicion of authenticity—is overlooked. The study also identifies patterns in deceptive news that distinguish it from authentic news. Deceptive news stories are more likely than authentic news stories to be filed from a remote location, to be on a story topic conducive to source secrecy, to be on the front page (or magazine cover), to contain more sources, more “diverse” sources and more hard-to-trace sources. It is suggested that editors might use these recognizable patterns to help prevent journalistic deceptions.     

Assessing Text-Picture Correspondence in Television News: The Development of a New Coding Scheme

A new coding scheme and method of analysis were proposed to assess the level of text-picture correspondence in television news. The method focuses on alternating text-picture correspondences within news items and uses the proportional time devoted to each correspondence category as the dependent variable. It is argued that the coding method could be used in large-scale analyses of television news content as well as in effect studies that examine recall for news information.     

图绘新闻:信息可视化与编辑室内的理念冲突

文章通过对相关学术文献中关于可视化新闻生产的话语构成的检视,以及对瑞士五家新闻机构的可视化编辑的深度访谈,全面勾勒数字化新闻生产与传统新闻生产之间存在的理念冲突,以及这种冲突对于新闻业发展变迁路径的潜在影响.研究发现,可视化新闻生产逻辑将"真实"界定为再现层面上的操作性概念,主张将美学的维度纳入新闻专业主义体系,同时提出了重构新闻价值标准的要求,这对传统新闻理念的权威性构成了显而易见的挑战.文章进而提出可视化新闻生产所遵循的"科学-艺术"观念结构有可能导致整个社会公共空间和文化结构的变迁.     

基于查询特征分析的新闻意图自动识别

从Sogou查询日志中选取样本查询且进行人工标注,通过对标注后新闻查询的分析,提出能用于识别新闻意图的新特征,即查询表达式特征、查询随时间分布特征以及点击结果特征。根据这3个特征,利用决策树分类器实现查询中新闻意图的自动识别,结果发现:①新闻类查询的查询目标主要集中在特定主题信息以及娱乐类信息方面,其查询主题大多为娱乐、政治、体育与经济类信息;②相对非新闻查询,新闻查询具有更可能包含实体、随时间分布波动较大、点击结果之间相似度更高的特点;③本方法对查询中新闻意图的识别效果较好,其宏平均准确率、召回率、F值分别为 0.76、0.73、0、74。     

The Impact of Linear Versus Nonlinear Listening to Radio News on Recall and Comprehension

This study examines the effect of mode of listening to radio news on cognitive processes. An experimental design using 82 undergraduates from Kuwait University was employed to test the research hypotheses. The stimulus is a real newscast that was recorded and manipulated into four versions in line with the research problem: Traditional radio newscast, online newscast played with one click, linear interactive netcast with a click for each news item, and a support activity condition in which additional links for details were added to each link. The study showed that nonlinear news listening yields better levels of news recall and comprehension. Moderate levels of interactivity on sites of radio news caused better memory performance compared to lower and higher levels of interactivity.     

科技学术期刊增加科技新闻报道的探讨

科技新闻报道是学术期刊内容中比较薄弱的方面,在学术期刊中增加科技新闻报道是非常必要的.认为可以行业内最新科技成果、科技政策、科技人物为报道内容,采用动态性报道、评述性报道、深度报道的形式,期刊加强科技新闻报道应具备一定的条件.     

The role of communication in the formation of an issue-based citizenry

Citizens can gain a better understanding of the important issues of a campaign and where candidates stand on those issues from three primary sources: direct candidate-to-citizen mass media messages (e.g., political advertisements, debates), news (e.g., newspapers, television news), or discussion with fellow citizens. The current study conducted a secondary analysis of 1996 American National Election Study (ANES) data to replicate Brians and Wattenberg's (1996) findings concerning the relative influence of political advertisements, television news use, and newspaper use on voter issue knowledge and salience in the 1992 United States presidential campaign. We also analyzed two additional communication information sources, general political discussion and debate viewing. The effects of political advertisement recall, television news viewing, and newspaper use replicated across election studies. General political discussion was found to affect both issue knowledge and salience, and when introduced into the regression analyses nullifies the predictive power of political advertisement recall for knowledge. Talk's influence on salience wanes in subsequent analyses. Viewing the first debate was a strong predictor of issue knowledge, but was not associated with issue salience. Advertisement recall maintained predictive power for issue salience even after taking into account the other four information sources, and watching the second debate also predicted salience. The combination of results presents evidence that candidate-to-citizen and citizen-to-citizen communication play unique roles in determining levels of issue knowledge and salience.     

Attention-Getting and Comprehension-Raising Attributes in Visuals in Dutch and American,Public and Private Television News about Violence

This content analysis of 251 Dutch and American, public and private, television newscasts draws on empirical research to measure whether elements of visuals, identified in other studies as aiding in recall, are used in news about violence. A literature review on the contributions of visuals to television news learning pointed to a paradox: although getting attention is necessary for comprehension, over-emphasizing attention attributes may impede comprehension. This study concludes that although visuals from public broadcasters contain more elements identified as increasing the comprehensibility of a news item, visuals primarily have attention- gaining attributes, regardless of country or broadcast system.     

The Role of Media Use in the Recall Versus Recognition of Political Knowledge

A knowledgeable electorate is one of the fundamental assumptions of a healthy democracy, and yet studies consistently find the public underperforms in tests of political knowledge. In addition, television news exposure is often poorly associated with political knowledge. Explanations for this include the kinds of knowledge measured. Using an experiment nested in a national survey, this study finds television news exposure is a significant predictor of recognition knowledge while exposure to news via the Internet is a predictor of recall knowledge.     

Economic influences on long‐form network news stories

This study considers the effects of changes in competition at the national television level on the content of national television newscasts. The authors find that from 1975 to 1989, network news use of long‐form stories, a primary means of product differentiation in news, could not adequately be predicted by economic theory or the socialization theory of news.     

Crafting the news

Courses: This activity could be used in a basic public-speaking course to demonstrate messaging and the development of the three pillars of public speaking: content, organization, and delivery. In a basic communication course, this activity would help illustrate the process of communication (sender, receiver, feedback, channel, etc.). A mass communication class can use this activity to discuss the power of news outlets and social media while digging into mass communication theory (agenda setting, computer mediated communication, framing, etc.).

Objectives: Through collaboration with teammates, small groups of students will develop a three- to five-minute news segment that will be posted on YouTube upon completion. Through social-media distribution of the YouTube link, this news clip must attract a certain number (the final number can be determined by the instructor) of viewers in a specified time limit. Student participants will be responsible for identifying valid sources and compiling credible information pertaining to their news topic while also illustrating effective competency in speech content, organization, and delivery by preparing a presentation that is trustworthy and interesting, concise and clear, and presented with energy and charisma while conducting proper vocal and body delivery techniques. The “big question”: can the group create a credible, clear, concise, coherent news broadcast and distribute the finished project to a social-media outlet in the hopes of gaining a certain number of viewers?     

Incongruity in News Headings

In the rapidly changing news market, quality newspapers are searching for ways to combine established journalistic practices with attractive presentation of their newsprint. On internet news sites, attention-getting headlines are even more important in obtaining readership. This paper investigates the role of incongruity in selection of headings, and recall, recognition, and appreciation of selected news items. In Experiment 1, headlines were written on three incongruity levels: straightforward, ambiguous (trope), or stylistically deviant (scheme). In Experiment 2, news headlines were accompanied by either consistent or inconsistent photographs. Results of both experiments showed that heading incongruity enhanced information processing of news items.     

Antecedents of Incidental News Exposure: The Role of Media Preference,Use and Trust

ABSTRACT

The online environment has radically changed the way in which users consume, discover and manipulate news. The growing relevance of social media platforms and digital intermediaries for news sharing and consumption increase the likelihood of citizens to be exposed to online news even when they are not seeking it. This digital transformation fundamentally challenges the way online news use and exposure have been conceptualized and measured, affecting also to citizens’ knowledge about public affairs and politics. This article examines the factors that predict the probability to be an “incidentally exposed news user” online. Specifically, based on a representative US sample from the Pew Research Centre, this study analyses the role of media preference, use and trust. Findings indicate that beyond users’ demographics and loyalty, readers’ news preferences, uses and trust, specially of social media platforms, affect their probability to be incidentally exposed to news online. These results have important empirical and theoretical implications for understanding the connection between readers’ news consumption patterns and online exposure, intentional or incidental.     

试论新闻诉讼中的新闻真实

在新闻诉讼中,新闻真实与否成为判断新闻报道是否侵权的重要依据。司法界对新闻真实的考察,集中于事实的"有没有"和"准不准"。新闻界对新闻诉讼中新闻真实的认识存在种种误解。实际上,新闻诉讼中的新闻真实首先应是新闻理论范畴中的问题,其次才涉及法律范畴上的界定。     

重新审视西方传统新闻价值观

起源于西方的传统新闻价值学说,一直被视为跨世纪的理论经典沿用至今.但是随着商业社会的发展,传统新闻价值说越来越显示出它的局限性.大量生活新闻和发展性新闻如潮水般涌进媒体,传统新闻价值盛行的时代已经过去,现代新闻价值观正在形成.本文从传统新闻价值说的起源入手,着重分析了西方学者对该理论的释义上的"语差误读",以及传统新闻价值说在理论和实践角度存在的缺陷和不足.     

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.     

Effects of Mass and Interpersonal Communication on Breast Cancer Screening: Advancing Agenda-Setting Theory in Health Contexts

Drawing on components of agenda-setting theory and the two-step flow of information from mass media to news audiences, this study examines the effects of mass and interpersonal communication on breast cancer screening practices among college- and middle-aged women (n = 284). We theorized that screening behaviors among younger women would be influenced more by interpersonal sources of information while screening among middle-aged women would be more influenced by exposure to mass-mediated information. Findings supported anticipated patterns, revealing important and varying roles for both mass and interpersonal communication in the health behaviors of women. Implications for health practitioners and campaign planners, as well as recommendations for future research, are discussed.     

准确理解新闻的“整体真实”

新闻真实始终是新闻实践中、新闻学研究中的一个核心问题。整体真实与具体真实是当代中国新闻理论研究中的一对重要范畴,其中,理论上较难理解的、实践中较难实现的是新闻的整体真实。整体真实,既是一种新闻真实观,同时也是新闻真实实现的方法论。新闻的整体真实,不是传统上所理解的关于目标报道领域全部事实的真实报道,而是新闻意义上的整体真实,宏观上是指新闻要呈现出目标报道领域新闻事实的整体图景,微观上是指具体新闻要反映具体新闻事实的整体面目。实现新闻的整体真实,需要实事求是的精神与方法,需要客观、全面反映目标报道领域不同性质、不同类型的新闻事实,需要新兴媒介环境中所有相关新闻传播主体间的有机互动,需要形成针对复杂新闻事实的过程性报道机制。自然,更需要国家提供相关法律政策的有效保障,需要社会创造实现新闻整体真实的宽松环境。     

Cross-Cutting Effects of Hypertext Navigation on the Convergence of Attitudes

This study explores the navigation patterns of users reading hypertext-linked online news articles about a controversial issue. With the theoretical frameworks of selective exposure and cross-cutting exposure, the study examined the effects of individuals’ attitudes on their navigation patterns and consequent attitude changes after the news exposure. We asked 130 participants to read positive or negative news articles about the Korea–U.S. free trade agreement (FTA) by selecting six consecutive webpages. The results indicate that their attitudes toward the FTA was a significant predictor of their news selection, providing support for the selective exposure hypothesis. In terms of navigation patterns across the six news selection stages, the participants tended to select news articles that corresponded to their initial attitudes. The selection gap between participants with different attitudes increased until the fifth stage and ultimately converged. In terms of attitude change, the gap in the participants’ attitudes decreased sharply after their navigation.     

The Partisan Affect of News Seekers vs. Gatekeepers: Linguistic Differences in Online vs. Front-Page News in Campaign 2012

This article examines if patterns in online news seeking privilege stories featuring more linguistic markers of partisan affect than those positioned by traditional gatekeepers on the print front page. Online “most-read” and print front-page stories covering 8 weeks of the 2012 presidential campaign were submitted to computer-assisted text analysis (n = 302). Guided by research on online and partisan affect, this study hypothesizes that (a) “most-read” stories will feature more supportive language than stories placed on the front page by traditional gatekeepers when the news outlet has a reputation for supporting the incumbent party; and (b) “most-read” stories will feature more antagonistic language than those placed on the front page by traditional gatekeepers when the news outlet has a reputation for supporting the challenger party. The findings show how online audiences opted for stories that featured more linguistic markers of preferred partisan affect than journalists and editors placed on Page One.