Motivating news audiences: Shock them or provide them with solutions?

Karen McIntyre
Meghan Sobel

Article Sidebar

PDF (512)
See on DADUN
Published: 2017-01-01
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15581/003.30.35794
Keywords:
Solutions journalism, shock media, sex trafficking, experiment, human rights reporting

How to Cite

Motivating news audiences: Shock them or provide them with solutions?. (2017). Communication & Society, 30(1), 39-56. https://doi.org/10.15581/003.30.35794
1419

Abstract

Despite the well-established power of the media to shape public perceptions of social problems, compassion fatigue is believed to remain prevalent. So what does it take for someone to be compelled to act after reading a story or seeing an image of a prominent issue? This study, a 3-by-2 between subjects experiment, examined the effects of two journalistic techniques — shocking audiences into action with offensive stories or inspiring them to act with solution-based stories – in the context of sex trafficking. Results revealed that neither shock nor solutions stories led to increased empathy for trafficked individuals, greater understanding of the issue, increased desire to share the story or increased desire to act, but that readers of solutions stories felt more positive and were more likely to read similar stories about the issue. This suggests that solution-focused news stories might be at least somewhat more engaging than shocking and offensive stories.
Keywords:
Solutions journalism, shock media, sex trafficking, experiment, human rights reporting

Authors

Karen McIntyre
Virginia Commonwealth University.
Meghan Sobel
Regis University.


Metrics

Search GoogleScholar




Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Issue

Vol. 30 No. 1 (2017)

Section

Articles

RIGHTS TRANSFER

By submitting the article for evaluation and subsequent publication in Communicaton & Society, the AUTHOR grants exclusive economic and/or exploitation rights: reproduction, distribution, public communication, transformation/translation/creation of derivative works, and commercialisation to the University of Navarra through its Publications Service, for the maximum legal period in force -the author's lifetime and seventy years after his or her death or declaration of death-, in any country, and in any of the current and future publishing modalities, both in print and electronic versions.

In the event that the article is not accepted for publication, this transfer of rights lapses with the communication of the refusal to the AUTHOR.

The AUTHOR affirms that the article is unpublished, that it has not been sent simultaneously to another publication medium and that the rights have not been transferred exclusively previously. He is responsible to the University of Navarra through its Publications Service for the authorship and originality of his work, as well as for all pecuniary charges that may arise for the University of Navarra through its Publications Service, in favor of third parties due to actions, claims or conflicts arising from the breach of obligations by the AUTHOR.