Mariska Kleemans

The Influence of Age and Gender on Preferences for Negative Content and Tabloid Packaging in Television News Stories

This study aimed at answering the question whether preferences for negative content and a tabloid production style in television news stories vary with different age groups and gender. An experiment with 288 participants was conducted. As expected, results showed that age and gender moderated the influence of negative content and tabloid packaging on the viewers’ preferences. Compared with middle-aged and older viewers, young viewers had a stronger preference for negative content rather than neutral content. Preferences for tabloid packaging rather than standard packaging were stronger for men than for women.

Citizen Sources in the News: Above and Beyond the Vox Pop?

Both within journalism and academia it is argued that citizen voices should have a greater prominence in news to counterbalance the virtual monopoly of elite sources. This study extends previous studies – showing increased presence of citizens in news – by investigating relevant but unanswered questions, namely, (1) whether there has been a change in their prominence relative to elite and civil society sources and (2) in which capacity citizens have been present in the past two-and-a-half decades. Moreover, (3) citizens’ contribution to different story topics is explored. In this study, 1425 television news stories broadcast between 1990 and 2014 (N = 2413 sources) are analyzed. Results show that citizen sources became more prominent at the cost of elite sources. However, elite sources still remain the primary definers in news. Citizens do not get a more substantive, relevant voice as they are primarily used as vox pops, regardless of story topic.

Preadolescents’ Emotional and Prosocial Responses to Negative TV News: Investigating the Beneficial Effects of Constructive Reporting and Peer Discussion

Watching news is important for preadolescents, but it may also harm their well-being. This study examined whether applying insights from positive psychology to news production can reduce this potential harm, by reducing negative emotional responses and enhancing positive emotional responses to negative news, and by encouraging prosocial intentions. Moreover, we explored whether peer discussion strengthened these effects. Preadolescents (n = 336; 9–13 years old; 48.5% female) were exposed to either constructive (solution-based news including positive emotions) or nonconstructive news. Subsequently, half of the children assigned to the constructive and the nonconstructive condition participated in a peer discussion. The findings showed that exposure to constructive news resulted in more positive emotional responses and less negative emotional responses as compared to nonconstructive news. Moreover, discussing the news with peers led to more positive and less negative emotional responses among preadolescents who watched the nonconstructive newscast, and to more prosocial intentions among preadolescents who watched constructive news. In all, constructive news reporting and peer discussion could function as tools to make negative news less harmful for preadolescents.

Competitive pressure and arousing television news : a cross-cultural study.

In many scholarly writings about journalism, the idea can be found that competitive pressure urges journalists to make news more arousing. This hypothesis was tested in two cultural settings: the Western European culture and the Chinese-dominated culture. A total of 3028 TV news stories from seven different markets, or 12 different news programs, were analyzed on the presence of arousing news characteristics. High competitive pressure at the market level appeared to contribute to the prevalence of arousing news, but this effect was more pronounced in the Chinese-dominated culture than in the Western European culture. Effects of high competitive pressure at the station level were only observed in the Western European culture.

The Impact of Prosocial Television News on Children’s Prosocial Behavior: An Experimental Study in the Netherlands

The aim of this experimental study was to examine whether prosocial behavior in television news affects children’s prosocial intentions and behaviors. In this study, 372 Dutch children (9–13 years old) participated. Children in the experimental condition were exposed to prosocial news showing children organizing a fundraising action for UNICEF. In the control condition, children were exposed to news about UNICEF in which no prosocial behavior was included. Afterwards, children were given the opportunity to donate to UNICEF, which served as an index of prosocial behavior. Prosocial intentions were captured using paper-and-pencil questionnaires. Regression analysis demonstrated that, while controlling for important confounders, children exposed to prosocial news were significantly more willing to help with setting up a project for UNICEF and donated more to UNICEF compared to children who did not watch prosocial news. These findings highlight that prosocial television can function as a tool for positive social change among children.

Enjoyment of arousing television news: The role of age and sensation seeking

Abstract This study investigated the role of television news as entertainment by focusing on the enjoyment that viewers experience while watching television news stories. In particular, the study examined the relationship between arousing news stories and enjoyment, and explored the potential moderating role of age and sensation seeking. Participants (N = 288) watched four news stories and reported both their feelings of arousal and their enjoyment of each story. An ∩-shaped relationship between arousal and enjoyment was found. This relationship was not moderated by sensation seeking, but it was moderated by age: The level of arousal at which enjoyment reached its maximum was higher in younger viewers.

Picture perfect: The direct effect of manipulated Instagram photos on body image in adolescent girls

ABSTRACT This study investigates the effect of manipulated Instagram photos on adolescent girls’ body image, and whether social comparison tendency moderates this relation. A between-subject experiment was conducted in which 144 girls (14–18 years old) were randomly exposed to either original or manipulated (retouched and reshaped) Instagram selfies. Results showed that exposure to manipulated Instagram photos directly led to lower body image. Especially, girls with higher social comparison tendencies were negatively affected by exposure to the manipulated photos. Interestingly, the manipulated photos were rated more positively than the original photos. Although the use of filters and effects was detected, reshaping of the bodies was not noticed very well. Girls in both conditions reported to find the pictures realistic. Results of this study implied that the recent societal concern about the effects of manipulated photos in social media might be justified, especially for adolescent girls with a higher social comparison tendency.

Second screening for news: Effects of presentation on information processing and program liking

Abstract This study investigated the effects of second screen presentation mode on information processing and program liking. In an experiment, 121 participants watched a television news program. One group was assigned to a dual screen condition in which participants were required to actively look up additional information on a second screen (‘look-up condition’), while a second group were assigned to a dual screen condition in which participants were directly presented with the additional information on the second screen, with no looking-up required (‘presented information condition’). In a third condition, the single-screen condition, participants merely watched the news program. Results show that second screening negatively impacts factual recognition and program liking, regardless of presentation mode. While cued recall of information was lower in the second screen conditions than in the single screen condition, participants in the condition with presented information scored significantly higher on cued recall compared to the look-up condition. Analyses show the effects can be explained by the different levels of cognitive load elicited by different presentation modes.

Getting Youngsters Hooked on News: The effects of narrative news on information processing and appreciation in different age groups

Narrative news is often propagated as a means to inform and attract younger generations of news consumers. To test this, the current study assessed the effects of narrative structure versus inverted pyramid structure on information processing and news appreciation for Millennials, compared to Generation X, and Baby Boomers/Silent Generation. Participants were randomly exposed to either four online news articles written in a narrative structure or an inverted pyramid structure. Results show that people are better informed by narrative news. However, appreciation is lower for narrative news compared to the inverted pyramid. Moreover, the younger participants express lower appreciation, regardless of story structure. The results suggest that although the narrative structure is best at informing all audiences, it is not necessarily a viable strategy to attract younger news audiences.

Demographic variation in how the social brain processes news messages

Abstract. A high capacity for visual perception distinguishes Homo sapiens from other primates. This human ability to detect social cues and retain visual records of social networks has been tested mostly with static facial images in laboratory settings. However, media consumption has become closely entangled with the way social life is navigated. Therefore, the study reported here tested demographic differences (gender and education) in visual information processing of social and nonsocial objects featured in audiovisual news content. Women recognized (accuracy) and recalled (salience) social images better than men. On the other hand, men were more skilled at recognizing, but not recalling, nonsocial images. Participants with lower educational levels recognized and recalled fewer images than individuals with higher educational levels. Interactions between demographic variables and time suggest that memory records for social images are more stable than those for nonsocial images. Memory may have survival-relevant importance, serving navigational functions that vary across environmental demands, resulting in differences across demographic groups.