Youngkee Ju

Outrage factors in government press releases of food risk and their influence on news media coverage

An appropriate level of risk perception should be a critical issue in modern “risk society.” There have been many studies on the influences on risk perception. This study investigates whether risk communication scholar Dr. Peter Sandmans outrage factors intensify journalistic attention to health risks from food consumption. A content analysis of a health institutions press releases was conducted to examine 15 outrage factors of food risks conveyed in the governmental risk communication. In addition, the news stories covering the food risks informed by the press releases were calculated to evaluate the relation between outrage factors of a risk and the number of news stories covering the risk. Results showed that controllability was the most salient outrage factor, followed by trust, voluntariness, familiarity, and human origin; the greater the outrage score of a risk, the more news stories of the risk. For individual outrage factors, a risk with an implication of catastrophic potential was associated with an increase of news stories. Food providers’ distrustful behaviors also influenced journalistic attention to the food risks. The implication of the findings to health message designers is discussed.

A Comprehensive Examination of the Determinants for Food Risk Perception: Focusing on Psychometric Factors, Perceivers’ Characteristics, and Media Use

ABSTRACT Risk characteristics within a psychometric paradigm have been of major concern in studies of food risk perception. This study compared the influence of psychometric factors, perceivers’ characteristics (i.e., risk attitude, trust, and favorability of the country of origin), and that of the news media on the levels of food risk perception. The interaction of news media with the other two factors was also examined. A nationwide survey (n = 1,500) was conducted. The foods under investigation were Chinese processed foods and Japanese seafood imported to South Korea. In both cases, hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that psychometric factors had the greatest influence on food risk perception, followed by perceivers’ characteristics and media use. In addition, our results showed that the effect of perceived benefit and dread in Chinese food were salient only for those with little media use. The implication of the interaction effect on food risk perception is discussed in terms of accessibility and limited capacity of information processing.

Issue obtrusiveness and negative bias: exploring the moderating factors for asymmetric news coverage of the economy

This study investigates whether the negative asymmetry in economic news coverage is influenced according to the obtrusiveness of an issue. The numbers of positive and negative economic news articles in two South Korean newspapers were compared to the actual economic situations. Consumer prices/unemployment and the gross domestic product/trade balance were studied as obtrusive issues and as unobtrusive issues, respectively. As a result, the obtrusive issues showed typical asymmetry through which negative changes were followed by a significantly greater amount of news coverage, while positive changes were not paid attention to by the news media. In the case of the unobtrusive issues, the newspapers followed neither positive nor negative economic changes. Only one newspaper covered one of the unobtrusive issues, the trade balance, in an asymmetric way. The investigation of the spectrum of journalistic attention and examination of moderating factors for journalistic asymmetry is discussed.

Interaction of individual framing and political orientation in guiding climate change risk perception

Abstract There is a general agreement that climate change is a potential hazard threatening the global village. An appropriate level of risk perception should be a critical issue in coping with the global environmental risk. We examined the determinants of the level of climate change risk perception. In particular, we examined if individual framing of climate change interacts with political orientation in guiding climate change risk perception. The main effect of the two factors was also investigated. A nationwide online survey (N = 592) was conducted in South Korea by a professional survey agent. When self-efficacy, trust, and other demographics were controlled for, multiple regression analyses revealed that those focusing on what is happening (diagnostic framing) rather than what-to-do (prognostic framing) had higher risk perception. More importantly, only conservatives showed significantly different levels of risk perception according to their framing of the issue. Conservatives inclined to diagnostic framing showed higher risk perception than conservatives favoring prognostic framing. This difference disappeared when it comes to South Korean liberals, indicating an interaction between individual framing and political orientation. The significance of investigating individual framing, not media framing, and their interaction with political orientation are discussed.

Developing a gist-extraction typology based on journalistic lead writing: A case of food risk news

Risk communication is challenging since scientific knowledge is likely to be targeted to the public, which may have inadequate knowledge to understand jargons and expertise in risk messages. This study aims to construct a journalistic gist extraction typology, which can be useful for developing risk messages. Journalists lead writing was conducted for 164 governmental press releases regarding food risks, and they were compared to factual information in original press releases. seven types of gist extraction were identified: ‘exemplifying,’ ‘contextualizing,’ ‘grouping,’ ‘identifying likely victims,’ ‘emotional appeal,’ ‘separating verbatim,’ and ‘sense-making numbers.’ The typology was valid with 92% of the total leads made by nine reporters being applicable to it. The content analysis revealed that ‘exemplifying’ was the most frequent gist extraction type, followed by ‘contextualizing’ and ‘separating verbatim.’

Preferring negative or positive news? A closer examination of journalistic negativity in a health crisis

ABSTRACT Negativity of news coverage is widely documented. We examined whether the news media’s preference for reporting negative events was salient in news coverage of the outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) in South Korea, which was characterized by intensification or mitigation of viral spread. The daily number of news stories on the outbreak was compared with several viral spread indices to determine if the media responded to negative changes more than positive changes. At the aggregate level, the amount of MERS news coverage was associated with positive changes. When the number of newly confirmed patients decreased, the MERS news increased. However, a separate investigation of breakout and abatement stages showed that the media covered more negative changes during the breakout stage and shifted to more positive occurrences during abatement. These findings are discussed in light of the dynamics of journalistic attention to health crisis.

Emerging Infectious Disease Content in Newspaper Editorials: Public Health Concern or Leadership Issue?

We conducted a content analysis of newspaper editorials on the Middle East respiratory syndrome outbreak in Korea. Subject matter, social and personal efficacy information, and affective tone were evaluated using a mixed-methods approach. An analysis of 241 publications with the acronym “MERS” revealed that public health was the most salient, followed by leadership/governance, coping, medical system, and economic consequences. Societal efficacy information was more frequent than personal efficacy information, and a negative tone was predominant. However, leadership became the most frequent in the later stages. Personal efficacy information decreased over time and across content with a negative tone.

[News media's surveillance and gatekeeping in representing health risk].

OBJECTIVESnThis study investigates whether Korean news media pay more attention to emerging diseases than chronic ones, and whether they closely follow the changes in the magnitude of health risks of chronic or well-known diseases. These two features are expected to appear as the result of surveillance function served by health journalism that should be the main source of the publics risk perception.nnnMETHODSnThe number of stories published in 10 newspapers containing the words, SARS, Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, Avian Influenza, and Influenza A virus was compared with the number of stories on chronic or well-known diseases. We also counted the annual number of stories, published in a 12-year period, containing following terms: cancer, diabetes, hypertension, pneumonia, and tuberculosis. The number was compared with the actual mortality of each disease.nnnRESULTSnAlthough cancer represented the primary cause of mortality, the newspapers covered key emerging diseases more than cancer or other well-known diseases. Also, media coverage of pneumonia and tuberculosis did not vary in accordance with changes in the mortality of each disease. However, the news media coverage did vary in accordance with the mortality of cancer, diabetes, and hypertension.nnnCONCLUSIONSnKorean health journalism was found to have both strong and weak points. The news media reduced the relative level of attention given to pneumonia and tuberculosis. Bearing in mind the major influence of news coverage on risk perception, health professionals need to be more proactive about helping to improve Korean health journalism.