The journalistic preference for extreme exemplars: educational socialization, psychological biases, or editorial policy?

Exemplars are central in news reporting. However, extreme negative exemplars can bias citizens' factual perceptions and attributions of political responsibility. Nonetheless, our knowledge of the factors shaping journalistic preferences for including exemplars in news stories is limited. We investig...

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Published in:Journal of Communication Vol. 74; no. 1; pp. 48 - 63
Main Authors: Aarøe, Lene, Andersen, Kim, Skovsgaard, Morten, Svith, Flemming, Schmøkel, Rasmus
Format: Article
Published: Oxford University Press / USA Feb2024
Subjects:
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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      dt: Feb2024
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        10.1093/joc/jqad041
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        atl: The journalistic preference for extreme exemplars: educational socialization, psychological biases, or editorial policy?
      aug:
        au:
          Aarøe, Lene
          Andersen, Kim
          Skovsgaard, Morten
          Svith, Flemming
          Schmøkel, Rasmus
        affil:
          Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
          Department of Political Science, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
          Centre for Journalism, Department of Political Science and Public Management, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
          Department of Journalism, Media and Communication, University of Gothenburg , Gothenburg, Sweden
          Danish School of Media and Journalism, Aarhus, Denmark
          Digital Democracy Centre, University of Southern Denmark , Odense, Denmark
      su:
        Prejudices
        Journalistic reporting
        Individuals' preferences
        Socialization
        Example
        Editorial policies
        Journalism students
        Newsworthiness
      sug:
        subj:
          Prejudices
          Journalistic reporting
          Individuals' preferences
          Socialization
          Independent Artists, Writers, and Performers
          Independent writers and authors
          Example
          Editorial policies
          Journalism students
          Newsworthiness
      keyword:
        editorial policy
        Exemplars
        journalistic socialization
        psychological biases
        survey experiment
        editorial policy
        Exemplars
        journalistic socialization
        psychological biases
        survey experiment
      ab: Exemplars are central in news reporting. However, extreme negative exemplars can bias citizens' factual perceptions and attributions of political responsibility. Nonetheless, our knowledge of the factors shaping journalistic preferences for including exemplars in news stories is limited. We investigate the extent to which educational socialization, psychological biases, and editorial policy shape journalistic preferences for extreme negative exemplars. We field large-scale survey experiments to a population sample of journalism students, a nationally representative sample of citizens, and a representative sample of "young people" and obtain evaluations of news value, newsworthiness, and behavioral measures of the actual write-up of news articles. We find significant support for the role of editorial policy and limited support for the role of educational socialization and psychological biases. In a time where economic pressures and the proliferation of digital media potentially lead editors to prioritize clickbait, these findings suggest that structural biases in news coverage may be aggravated.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
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