Fear-mongering or fact-driven? Illuminating the interplay of objective risk and emotion-evoking form in the response to epidemic news

Celine Klemm; Tilo Hartmann; Enny Das

doi:10.1080/10410236.2017.1384429

Fear-mongering or fact-driven? Illuminating the interplay of objective risk and emotion-evoking form in the response to epidemic news

Celine Klemm^*
, Tilo Hartmann
, Enny Das

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

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Abstract

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.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	74-83
Number of pages	10
Journal	Health Communication
Volume	34
Issue number	1
Early online date	23 Oct 2017
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2017.1384429
Publication status	Published - 2 Jan 2019

Funding

This study is part of the E-com@eu project. The research leading to these results has received funding from the Commission of the European Communities Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement no. 278763. The study does not necessarily reflect the Commission’s views and in no way anticipates the Commission’s future policy in this area.

Funders	Funder number
Commission of the European Communities Seventh Framework Programme
Seventh Framework Programme	278763

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being

Keywords

health
epidemic
communication
emotion
sensationalism
media

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10.1080/10410236.2017.1384429

2019 Klemm Das Hartmann _ Health Communication _ Fear Mongering or Fact-DrivenFinal published version, 1.18 MB

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Fear-mongering or fact-driven? Illuminating the interplay of objective risk and emotion-evoking form in the response to epidemic news

Abstract

Funding

UN SDGs

Keywords

VU Research Profile

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