News: Window on The World?A media psychological perspective

Dr Sharon Coen

@coen_sharon@UKMediaPsych

• Apply psychology to better understand news journalism and the likely effects on public opinion

Aim

QUIZ

Vladimir Putin serves as

1. President of Russia

2. Manager of Chelsea Football Club

3. Owner of the Yokos Oil Company

4. Russia’s UN ambassador

5. Can't say

The term Taliban refers to:

1. The Rulers of Afghanistan 1996-2001

2. An Iranian political party

3. A Province in the disputed Kashmir region

4. Supporters of the former dictator of Iraq

5. Can't say

Is there scientific consensus on Human-Made Climate Change?

0%There is no consensus

50% The scientific community is split 50/50

100% There is consensus

• Putin: President of Russia

• Talibans: Rulers of Afghanistan

• 97% Agreement (Cook et al. 2013)

Answers:

WHERE DO WE GET INFORMATION ABOUT WHAT IS GOING ON AROUND THE WORLD?

News coverage and knowledge

Coen et al (in prep)

• News are a source of knowledge (above and beyond education)

• So, WHAT is covered by the news is important…

• … but also HOW things are covered matters!

• Schemata and headlines: the case of Salford riots

• Social Identity and language abstraction: the case of war and conflict

• Illusory correlation and good journalism: the case of climate change

Three case studies

THE SALFORD RIOTS

CASE STUDY 1

Schemata and headlines

The procedure is actually quite simple. First, you arrange things into different groups. Of course, one pile may be sufficient depending on how much there is to do. If you have to go somewhere else due to lack of facilities, that is the next step; otherwise, you are pretty well set. It is important not to overdo things. That is, it is better to do too few things at once than too many. In the short run this may not seem important but complications can easily arise. A mistake can be expensive as well. At first, the whole procedure will seem complicated. Soon, however, it will become just another fact of life. It is difficult to foresee any end to the necessity for this task in the immediate future, but then one can never tell. After the procedure is completed one arranges the materials into different groups again. Then they can be put into their appropriate places. Eventually they will be used once more and the whole cycle will then have to be repeated. However, that is a part of life.

The procedure is actually quite simple. First, you arrange things into different groups. Of course, one pile may be sufficient depending on how much there is to do. If you have to go somewhere else due to lack of facilities, that is the next step; otherwise, you are pretty well set. It is important not to overdo things. That is, it is better to do too few things at once than too many. In the short run this may not seem important but complications can easily arise. A mistake can be expensive as well. At first, the whole procedure will seem complicated. Soon, however, it will become just another fact of life. It is difficult to foresee any end to the necessity for this task in the immediate future, but then one can never tell. After the procedure is completed one arranges the materials into different groups again. Then they can be put into their appropriate places. Eventually they will be used once more and the whole cycle will then have to be repeated. However, that is a part of life.

Using a washing machine

Local News Websites coverage of the Salford Riots - Headlines -

Arts sports celebrities

Business Comments, explanations

Descriptive Police work, Authorities and Justice

Politics Positive campaigns and cleanup

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

This is Lancashire

Salford star

Salford online

Salford advertiser

Manchester evening news

Coen and Jones (2013)

• “You go and live in Syria, then or Iran or North Korea. How dare you compare oppressed people peacefully campaigning for democracy, with the criminal cowards infesting our streets”

Omni, Gtr. Manchester

Comment posted: 10/08/11 at 22:08

Does it matter?

WAR AND CONFLICT

CASE STUDY 2

Social Identity and Language abstraction

Tajfel & Turner (1979), Tajfel (1981): two classes of identity:

• Personal Identity (as single individuals, idiosyncratic personal relationships and traits)

• Social Identity (as members of social groups)

Social Identity

GroupIndividual

1. Assimilation /Differentiation

2. Ingroup favouritism/outgroup derogation

Consequences of categorisation

• Semin and Fiedler (1988, 1992)

DAV: Descriptive Action Verbs (Marco hits Luigi)

IAV: Interpretative Action Verb (Marco hurts Luigi)

SV: State Verb (Marco hates Luigi)

Adj: Adjectives (Marco is aggressive)

Language abstractionTy

pe

of

Att

rib

uti

on

Situational

Dispositional Linguistic Intergroup Bias: ABSTRACT FOR + IG/-OG CONCRETE FOR - IG/+OG

Maass et al. (1994):

• Gulf war RAI1 and RAI3 news• During and after the war• Coded valence and abstraction• Correlation valence-abstraction

Case 2: Linguistic Intergroup Bias

Ingroup(Allies)

Outgroup (Iraq)

During -.19 -.48*

After .07 -.23

During conflict News used more abstract language to describe negative actions - and more concrete for positive actions - of Iraqi ppl Iraqi ppl are intrinsically predisposed to wrongdoing

• Recent work suggests that we use abstraction to support expectancies rather than discriminate

(LEB rather than LIB)• Still implications for journalism do not change

Note

CLIMATE CHANGE

CASE STUDY 3

Illusory correlation and good journalism

• Journalists want to be fair (3.1)• And make news accessible to the public (3.2)

Unexpected outcomes of good journalism :

• Balance norm important for good journalism (Cunningham 2003)

• Boykoff and Boykoff (2004): norm applied to CC

• A significant proportion of UK public doubt CC or scientific consensus (cited in Woods Fernandez and Coen, 2012)

3.1 Balance, journalism and CC

Group A Group B

Positive 18 9

Negative 8 4

• Hamilton and Gifford, (1956)

• Learn about two new groups

• Pos/Neg behaviours• Negative from minority

overestimated

The illusory correlation

• Lakoff (1995): conceptualizing one domain (the target) in terms of another (the source).

• The target domain is usually less familiar and understood than the source domain (Gentner and Jeziorski, 1995).

(Woods, Fernandez & Coen, 2012, p. 326)

3.2 Metaphors as simplification

The use of Religious Metaphors in Climate Change News

Woods, Fernandez and Coen (2012)

• More than a window on the world, News appear to be a lens – Only part of what is out there is

represented– Events are presented from a certain

angle– And described in a certain way

• Psychological theories and research can help understanding the effects of News coverage (there’s a lot more than what I talked about here!)

• Awareness is key both for journalists and audiences

Conclusion