TY - JOUR
T1 - Fear-Mongering or Fact-Driven? Illuminating the Interplay of Objective Risk and Emotion-Evoking Form in the Response to Epidemic News
AU - Klemm, Celine
AU - Hartmann, Tilo
AU - Das, Enny
PY - 2019/1/2
Y1 - 2019/1/2
N2 - This study examined the veracity of the common assumption that news coverage of epidemic outbreaks spawns heightened fears and risk perceptions. An online experiment with 1,324 participants investigated the interplay of the form of news coverage (factual/emotion-laden) and key aspects of actual risk (low/high vulnerability, low/high severity) on audience responses. Participants read one of eight versions of a newspaper article followed by measures on risk perceptions, negative affect, behavioral intentions, and perceived sensationalism. Risk perceptions and fear were primarily driven by objective risk characteristics, whereas emotion-laden news form only increased perceptions of disease severity, not of fear or personal vulnerability.
AB - This study examined the veracity of the common assumption that news coverage of epidemic outbreaks spawns heightened fears and risk perceptions. An online experiment with 1,324 participants investigated the interplay of the form of news coverage (factual/emotion-laden) and key aspects of actual risk (low/high vulnerability, low/high severity) on audience responses. Participants read one of eight versions of a newspaper article followed by measures on risk perceptions, negative affect, behavioral intentions, and perceived sensationalism. Risk perceptions and fear were primarily driven by objective risk characteristics, whereas emotion-laden news form only increased perceptions of disease severity, not of fear or personal vulnerability.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85031933319&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/10410236.2017.1384429
DO - 10.1080/10410236.2017.1384429
M3 - Article
C2 - 29058483
AN - SCOPUS:85031933319
SN - 1041-0236
VL - 34
SP - 74
EP - 83
JO - Health Communication
JF - Health Communication
IS - 1
ER -