A Critique of the theorization of the emotional accountability in direct consequence to News Narratives.

668 Words2 Pages

In the article, 'Stories that count: Influence of News Narratives on Issue Attitudes’ authors Fuyuan Shen, Lee Ahern and Michelle Baker explore “the impact of using narratives to frame a political issue [on] individuals’ attitudes.” (Shen, Ahern & Baker, 2014) Empirical studies were conducted focusing on the “relative affective and cognitive responses” (Shen et al, 2014) through a questionnaire; this particular avenue of research was apt in measuring the immediate reactions to the selected articles shown to the participants, but also the delayed impact of them. Empirical research is the easiest and most efficient way to measure the participants’ emotional impact, but such a direct approach might influence participants to give answers to what they ‘believe’ they should find “impacting” rather than what actually is. The balance between informational data doesn’t outweigh the critical analysis of the data making the ease of reading it more accessible. The visual diagrams of figure 1 and 2 also help to unify the data in a cohesive and clarifying format. Limitations of methodology The study is based on a very small minority and is greatly generalized, though this is taken into consideration by the authors. Only 179 undergraduate university students from “major public university” (Shen, 2014, pp 103) participated in the study. Any mention of gender, age, area of study or the recruitment method used was negated. These factors should have all been mentioned (though age and area of study may possibly influence the identifiability of the participants) as they play significant factors, within the study. It could be assumed that students that participated were students of the College of Communication at Pennsylvania State Universit... ... middle of paper ... ... studies focus of inquiry correlates with an increasingly large area of study by previous academics and researchers, a different paradigm on the well versed area of study would have improved the article significantly. Works Cited Shen, F,. & Edwards, H. H. (2005) “Economic Individualism, Humanitarism, and Welfare Reform: A Value-Based account of Framing Effects,” Journal of communication 55, 795-809. Shen, F., Ahern, L., & Baker, M. (2014). Stories that Count: Influence of News Narratives on Issue Attitudes. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 91, 98-117. Doi:10.1177/1077699013514414 Deighton, J., Romer,. & McQueen. (1989) “Using Drama to Persuade,” Journal of Consumer Research 16, 335-343 Gamson, A. W., & Modigliani, A. (1989) “Media Discourse and Public opinion on Nuclear Power: A Constructionist Approach” American Journal of Sociology 95, 1-37

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