Exemplifying a real person in news stories has become a popular journalistic technique to describe an event or issue. With the frequent appearance of medical news reports in local television in recent years, this news presentation style is widely believed to help audiences better engage in and understand complex medical information and to influence their perceptions and judgments. In terms of television news coverage of medical advances, this study investigates how audiences respond to embedded human examples (mainly patients who experience benefits from the advances) and to overall news stories, and how such responses are related to their perception of portrayed medical advances. The experimental results indicate that news stories with a human example were more likely to intensify the audience’s positive emotions than those without, which in turn influenced favorable perceptions of the described medical advance. In addition, the extent to which the audience identified with a human example (in particular, sympathy) mediated the relationship between the audience’s involvement in the news story and its perception of the portrayed medical advance.
AustCF (2003) Factors in the appeal of news. In: BryantJRoskos-EwoldsenDCantorJ (eds) Communication and Emotion. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, pp. 511–529.
2.
AustCFZillmannD (1996) Effects of victim exemplification in television news on viewer perception of social issues. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly73(4): 787–803.
3.
BoumanMMaasLKokG (1998) Health education in television entertainment—Medisch Centrum West: A Dutch drama serial. Health Education Research13(4): 503–518.
4.
BrodieMHamelECAltmanDEBlendonRJBensonJM (2003) Health news and the American public, 1996–2002. Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law28(5): 927–950.
5.
BrosiusH-B (1991) Exemplars in the news: A theory of the effects of political communication. In: BryantJZillmannD (eds) Responding to the Screen: Reception and Reaction Processes. Hillsdale, NY: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, pp. 179–194.
6.
BrosiusH-BBatheltA (1994) The utility of exemplars in persuasive communication. Communication Research21(1): 48–78.
7.
CohenJ (1997) The media’s love affair with AIDS research: Hope vs. hype. Science275(5298): 298–299.
8.
CohenJ (2001) Defining identification: A theoretical look at the identification of audiences with media characters. Mass Communication and Society4(3): 245–264.
9.
CohenJ (2006) Audience identification with media characters. In: BryantJVordererP (eds) Psychology of Entertainment. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, pp. 183–197.
10.
DunlopSWakefieldMKashimaY (2008) Can you feel it? Negative emotion, risk, and narrative in health communication. Media Psychology11(1): 52–75.
11.
EntwistleV (1995) Reporting research in medical journals and newspapers. British Medical Journal310(6984): 920–923.
12.
EscalasJESternBB (2003) Sympathy and empathy: Emotional responses to advertising dramas. Journal of Consumer Research29(4): 566–578.
13.
EyalKRubinAM (2003) Viewer aggression and homophily, identification, and parasocial relationships with television characters. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media47(1): 77–98.
14.
FrostKFrankEMaibachE (1997) Relative risk in the news media: A quantification of misrepresentation. American Journal of Public Health87(5): 842–845.
15.
GilesDC (2002) Parasocial interaction: A review of the literature and a model for future research. Media Psychology4(3): 279–305.
16.
GrayJB (2009) The power of storytelling: Using narrative in the healthcare context. Journal of Communication in Healthcare2(3): 258–273.
17.
GregoryJMillerS (1998) Science in Public: Communication, Culture, and Credibility. New York, NY: Plenum Press.
18.
GrossK (2008) Framing persuasive appeals: Episodic and thematic framing, emotional response, and policy opinion. Political Psychology29(2): 169–192.
19.
GrossKD’AmbrosioL (2004) Framing emotional response. Political Psychology25(1): 1–29.
20.
HinnantALen-RiosME (2009) Tactic understandings of health literacy: Interview and survey research with health journalists. Science Communication31(1): 84–115.
21.
HoffnerCCantorJ (1991) Perceiving and responding to mass media characters. In: BryantJZillmannD (eds) Responding to the Screen: Reception and Reaction Processes. Hillsdale, NY: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, pp. 65–101.
22.
HongH (2013) The effects of human interest framing in television news coverage of medical advances. Health Communication28(5): 452–460.
23.
KleinCTFHelweg-LarsenM (2002) Perceived control and the optimistic bias: A meta-analytic review. Psychology & Health17: 437–446.
24.
LeeHLeeYParkS-AWillisECameronGT (2013) What are Americans seeing? Examining the message frames of local television health news stories. Health Communication28(8): 846–852.
25.
MacDonaldSP (2005) The language of journalism in treatments of hormone replacement news. Written Communication22(3): 275–297.
26.
MoyerAGreenerSBeauvaisJSaloveyP (1995) Accuracy of health research reported in the popular press: Breast cancer and mammography. Health Communication7(2): 147–161.
27.
NabiRLPrestinA (2007) Unrealistic hope and unnecessary fear: Examining the effects of emotional health news coverage on risk perception and intentions. Paper presented at the International Communication Association, San Francisco, CA.
PetersELipkusIDiefenbachMA (2006) The functions of affect in health communications and in the construction of health preferences. Journal of Communication56: S140–S162.
30.
PettyRECaccioppoJT (1986) Communication and Persuasion: Central and Peripheral Routes to Attitude Change. New York, NY: Springer Verlag.
31.
PreacherKJHayesAF (2008) Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behavior Research Methods40: 879–891.
32.
PribbleJMGoldsteinKMFowlerEFGreenburgMJNoelSKHowellJD (2006) Medical news for the public to use? What’s on local TV news. The American Journal of Managed Care12(3): 170–176.
33.
RansohoffDFRansohoffRM (2001) Sensationalism in the media: When scientists and journalistsmaybe complicit collaborators. Effective Clinical Practice4(4): 185–188.
34.
ReevesBGeigerS (1994) Designing experiments that assess psychological responses. In: LangA (ed.) Measuring Psychological Responses to Media. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, pp. 165–180.
35.
RothmanAJSaloveyP (1997) Shaping perceptions to motivate healthy behavior: The role of message framing. Psychological Bulletin121(1): 3–19.
36.
RubinAMPerseEMPowellRA (1985) Loneliness, parasocial interaction, and local television viewing. Human Communication Research12(2): 155–180.
37.
SlaterMDRounerD (2002) Entertainment–education and elaboration likelihood: Understanding the processing of narrative persuasion. Communication Theory12(2): 173–191.
38.
SlootenEVFriedmanDBTannerA (2013) Are we getting the health information we need from the mass media? An assessment of consumers’ perceptions of health and medical news. Journal of Consumer Health on the Internet17(1): 35–53.
39.
SmithRADownsEWitteK (2007) Drama theory and entertainment education: Exploring the effects of a radio drama on behavioral intentions to limit HIV transmission in Ethiopia. Communication Monographs74: 133–153.
40.
SoodS (2002) Audience involvement and entertainment–education. Communication Theory12(2): 153–172.
41.
SundarSS (2003) News features and learning. In: BryantJRoskos-EwoldsenDCantorJ (eds) Communication and Emotion. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, pp. 275–296.
42.
TannerAH (2004) Agenda building, source selection, and health news at local television stations: A nationwide survey of local television health reporters. Science Communication25(4): 350–363.
43.
The PLoS Medicine Editors (2008) False hopes, unwarranted fears: The trouble with medical news stories. PLoS Medicine5(5): e118.
44.
ViswanathKBlakeKDMeissnerHISaiontzNGMullCFreemanCS. (2008) Occupational practices and the making of health news: A national survey of US health and medical science journalists. Journal of Health Communication13(8): 759–777.
45.
WangZGantzW (2010) Health content in local television news: A current appraisal. Health Communication25(3): 230–237.
46.
WilkesMS (1997) The public dissemination of medical research: Problems and solutions. Journal of Health Communication2(1): 3–15.
47.
ZillmannD (1999) Exemplification theory: Judging the whole by some of its parts. Media Psychology1(1): 69–94.
48.
ZillmannD (2006) Exemplification effects in the promotion of safety and health. Journal of Communication56: S221–S237.
49.
ZillmannDBrosiusH-B (2000) Exemplification in Communication: The Influence of Case Reports on the Perception of Issues. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
