Trivializing the News? Affective Context Effects of Commercials on the Perception of Television News

This study examined whether affect induced by television commercials influences the perception of news programming. An experiment showed that viewers in positive moods generated by television commercials perceive news stories viewed both after and before watching the commercials as more entertaining, relaxing, realistic, and more credible than viewers exposed to neutral commercials do. Of interest, viewers in positive mood, as compared to neutral mood, perceived the topic presented in the news story as less important and serious.     

News Stories on the Facebook Platform: Millennials’ Perceived Credibility of Online News Sponsored by News and Non-News Companies

ABSTRACT

This experimental study examined whether stories presented on Facebook that appeared to be from a news organization were rated as higher in perceived credibility than stories that appeared to be from a non-news organization. One-hundred-and-seven participants took part in the online study. One group saw stories that appeared to be from a news organization and another group saw the same stories that appeared to be from a non-news organization. Both groups rated the stories the same in terms of perceived credibility. The study also found that the higher the participants rated the stories in terms of perceived credibility, the higher they rated the organization’s perceived credibility. These findings point to potential implications for traditional journalistic outlets regarding their ability to be seen as credible, reliable online news sources—particularly through a social media platform like Facebook.     

Images of Injury: Graphic News Visuals’ Effects on Attitudes toward the Use of Unmanned Drones

In this study, sanitized coverage of the United States’ use of military drone strikes in foreign countries is pitted against more graphic news images in an experimental setting to determine effects on attitudes toward the use of U.S. military drones. In addition, multiple news exposures are tested to determine whether individuals can become emotionally inured to such coverage, even when images are more graphic. Key results find those who viewed graphic news visuals did not show evidence of desensitization after repeated viewing and expressed higher levels of concern regarding drone use but not reduced support for U.S. drone policy.     

Don’t Quote me: Effects of Named,Quoted, and Partisan News Sources

ABSTRACT

Many news organizations have developed policies on the use of named and unnamed sources, including whether the latter can be directly quoted or paraphrased in news stories. In this experiment, we test how audience members respond to these policy dictates by measuring news credibility in a political story that manipulated whether the source was named, whether that source was directly quoted, and the source’s political connection to the story. We found that while each of these manipulations had little or no main effects, they combined to trigger a discernible change in credibility in the eyes of the audience.     

Back to Reality: The Complex Relationship Between Patterns in Immigration News Coverage and Real-World Developments in Dutch and Flemish Newspapers (1999–2015)

Although prior studies investigating immigration news typically documented a dominant focus on negativity and threats, only limited empirical research is available, which scrutinizes the way real-world developments affect these patterns in immigration news. This study aims to fill this void. First, we report results of a large-scale and longitudinal content analysis (N = 4,340,757) of trends in immigration news coverage in two Western European cases, Flanders (the northern, Dutch-speaking, largest region of Belgium) and the Netherlands, from 1999 to 2015. Both the salience of immigration as a news topic on itself and its linkages with three prominent issues (i.e., crime, terrorism, and socioeconomic issues) are explored. Second, this study builds on previous insights by comparing dynamics in immigration news to real-world events and developments. Overall, the results show that the linkage of immigration to issues of crime, terrorism, and the economy in Flemish and Dutch newspapers was considerable throughout the 17-year period under study. Yet there is limited evidence for a close relationship between news and real-life developments; hence, trends in immigration news seem largely unaffected by trends in society.     

News and Islamist Radicalization Processes: Investigating Muslims’ Perceptions of Negative News Coverage of Islam

This study investigated how Muslims perceive negative news coverage of Islam and how these perceptions possibly contribute to radicalization processes. Utilizing qualitative interviews with former Islamists, Study 1 indicated that radicalized Muslims perceive a governmental infiltration of the media resulting in negative content. Analyses indicate that perceptual phenomena (hostile media, third person), negation, and anger play an important role in radicalization processes. We built on these findings in Study 2, utilizing a laboratory experiment in which Muslims were exposed to negative news content. Indeed, Muslims engaged in negation, perceived news as hostile, and perceived strong effects on non-Muslim Germans. These effects were stronger among Muslims with religious fundamentalist beliefs. Interestingly, negative news elicited anger, independent of such fundamentalist beliefs.     

Effects of imagery‐eliciting on recognition and recall for radio commercials

This experiment suggests that recognition and recall are better for radio commercials with imagery‐eliciting copy than for commercials without imagery‐eliciting copy.     

Bottom Lines and Deadlines: Examining Local Digital News Startups’ Content Across Different Revenue-earning Sites

This study examines independent news startups with self-reported revenue earnings in high-, middle-, and low-income categories and compares them in the areas of news content creation. The findings, based on a content analysis of 704 articles, reveal that low-revenue earners publish fewer stories than middle- and high-revenue earning sites. For-profit sites publish significantly more in low- and mid-revenue earning categories but non-profits publish significantly more in high-revenue earning sites. Most stories are still covered by editorial staff, including articles in the field of entertainment, lifestyle/health and community events about people, usually considered the domain of citizen reporters. The discussion section contextualizes these findings and recommends future research could consider examining these sites separately rather than clubbing them under the umbrella of “digital local independent startups.”     

College Radio Takeovers and Shutdowns: An Analysis of News Coverage from 2006–2016

Between 2010 and 2015, more than 30 college radio stations either went off air, transferred their licenses, or entered into programming or shared-time agreements. Among these are Vanderbilt University’s KRVU 91.1 FM, University of San Francisco’s KUSF 90.3 FM, Rice University’s KTRU 96.1 FM, and Georgia State University’s WRAS 88.5 FM. In what seems to be a shrinking presence of college radio on the FM dial, this study examines national and local news coverage of recent college radio shutdowns, transfers, and agreements to understand how these events are being presented in the news media. Findings suggest themes in news coverage includes a great deal of attention to the student, alumni, and community responses to station closures and transfers, but limited attention to reasons for the closures and transfers. University administrators were the most commonly quoted or referenced sources in the sample; students, alumni, community, faculty, and staff held significantly smaller shares of voice. Questions about the coverage of college radio closures and transfers as well as college radio’s future viability are discussed.     

News in an Age of Competition: The Case of Sensationalism in Dutch Television News, 1995–2001

Recent years have seen changing and shifting technologies as well as an uncertain economic climate. This research focuses on how audiences have reacted to these shifts, using a number of different sources of data to test hypotheses related to spending time and money on media. We suggest that previous studies examining audience expenditures and diffusion of new technologies may have overlooked the stressful economic conditions surrounding diffusion of some of those technologies. We find an increase in entertainment technology purchases as well as time spent with new and traditional media during recession years, beyond that indicated by the longer term trends. While there is a general decrease in coviewing behavior in recent years, the recession years reversed the trend. Results are discussed in terms of the constancy hypothesis and our hypothesis that the media provide outlets for reducing stress during difficult economic times.     

College Drinkers’ Privacy Management of Alcohol Content on Social-Networking Sites

Alcohol-related posts on social-networking sites (SNS) can damage college students’ reputations and relationships and contribute to risky behavior. However, little is known about how college drinkers engage in privacy management involving alcohol content. Through 48 interviews and a Communication Privacy Management lens, this study uncovered criteria on which students relied to develop relatively impermeable boundaries around alcohol posts, the ways they collectively negotiated privacy with peers, and how participants implicitly and explicitly communicatively negotiated privacy turbulence. Findings suggest important connections between the co-occurrence of online privacy management and identity management, including how facework is involved in remediating privacy breaches and the co-opting of privacy. Findings also inform efforts to educate college drinkers about on-and-offline strategies to manage alcohol-related SNS content.     

Arousing News Characteristics in Dutch Television News 1990–2004: An Exploration of Competitive Strategies

This study investigates the processes by which competition in the television news market might promote the presence of arousing characteristics in television news. A total of 3,024 news stories from six Dutch television news programs over the period 1990 to 2004 were investigated through content analysis. The findings of the study show overall increases in all 6 arousing characteristics. The findings also show that commercial newcomers included more arousing characteristics in their news stories than the public service broadcasters, that commercial newcomers developed a news format that featured more arousing characteristics, and that existing programs reacted to newcomers by increasing the amount of arousing characteristics in their news stories.     

Effects of perceived online–offline integration and internet censorship on mobile government microblogging service continuance: A gratification perspective

The success of government social media relies on citizens' continual usage. Through the theoretical lens of the Uses & Gratifications theory, we develop a research model for mobile government microblogging services (GMS) continuance intention, in which citizens' perceived integration of online and offline social lives and internet censorship are incorporated. Based on data from 629 mobile GMS users in China, the results of the structural equation modeling analysis show that perceived online–offline integration has a significant and positive effect on the three dimensions of gratification: content gratification, social gratification, and process gratification, which jointly influence mobile GMS continuance. Citizens' perceived internet censorship negatively affects their mobile GMS continuance. These results might provide understanding about the unique aspects of government social media, especially in the context of internet censorship.     

Murder She Searched: The Effect of Violent Crime and News Coverage on Residents’ Information Needs

This study examines local web search data as a window into residents’ information needs surrounding the issue of urban crime. Media system dependency theory is used to explain the dynamic, interdependent relationships between changes in the local crime rate (i.e., the social system), news coverage of crime (i.e., the media system), and residents’ (i.e., the audience’s) online searches for crime-related information. It was hypothesized that crime rates and news coverage of crime would increase residents’ information needs, motivating residents to go online to search for crime-related information to cope with an increased sense of uncertainty. The responsiveness of local newspapers to residents’ dynamic information needs was also evaluated. In an initial study in Minneapolis, Minnesota, violent crime and newspaper coverage of crime did predict online searches for crime-related information. But news coverage did not predict searches for crime-related information in a follow-up study in St. Louis, Missouri. Coverage in neither city’s newspapers was responsive to changes in aggregate crime-related online searches. Reasons for differences between the two cities are discussed, as are theoretical implications for future efforts to assess what local residents’ information needs are and to evaluate whether they are being met.     

Where Is My Issue? The Influence of News Coverage and Personal Issue Importance on Subsequent Information Selection on the Web

Researchers believe that the Web functions to supplement traditional news media. Little is known, however, about how traditional news media consumption influences Web use patterns. This study investigates how prior TV news exposure influences individuals' subsequent Web use by testing 3 theories that may explain individuals' information selection patterns—accessibility, instrumental utility, and personal issue importance. The results of this study reveal the strong effects of personal issue importance when selecting information on the Web, regardless of news coverage in traditional media. The findings also indicate higher levels of information selection when there is no prior exposure to news coverage.     

The Price and New Title Output of Scholarly Books: 2009–2016

The majority of scholars in the humanities and the social sciences, the scientific, technical, and medical, and the legal, tax, and regulatory fields are interested in the state of scholarly book publishing because these books often play a pivotal role in the often-opaque tenure, promotion, and grant application process. In the past, several studies analyzed new title output and scholarly book prices. However, no one investigated the impact of the Recession of 2007–2009 on scholarly books. This study looks at the impact of this recession, its impact on scholarly book prices and new title output between 2009 and 2016, and makes a series of recommendations for university presses.