scholarly journals Empathy Cultivation through (Pro)Social Media: A Counter to Compassion Fatigue

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 819-829
Author(s):  
Jessica Roberts
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Compassion Fatigue ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Emotional Impact ◽  
News Stories ◽  
Linguistic Inquiry Word Count ◽  
Social Empathy ◽  
Linguistic Inquiry

While a sizable body of literature suggests that repeated exposure to images of suffering may provoke compassion fatigue and news avoidance in audiences, this paper examines whether a different kind of representation can allow viewers to connect with the subjects of media coverage, cultivating empathy for them. The hope is that understanding the emotional impact of the way people are represented in news stories will help journalists better serve the public’s need for what Schudson called “social empathy”, “stories that—often in a human-interest vein—inform citizens about neighbors and groups they may not know or understand” and create a space where audiences can express positive emotions about their fellow citizens. This paper considers the reactions of followers of the “Humans of New York” (HONY) social media feed to the subjects of the feed’s posts, who are not portrayed as tragic victims, but humanized through portrayals of commonplace concerns, such as family, career, and romantic relationships. Comments on more than 8000 HONY posts over a year were analyzed using the Linguistic Inquiry Word Count program. Results indicate that comments on HONY are overwhelmingly positive and socially oriented, suggesting that this type of representation may be effective in countering compassion fatigue and allowing for better social connection.

scholarly journals Using the president’s tweets to understand political diversion in the age of social media

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephan Lewandowsky ◽  
Michael Jetter ◽  
Ullrich K. H. Ecker
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Agenda Setting ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
New York Times ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
The Media ◽  
Increased Activity

Abstract Social media has arguably shifted political agenda-setting power away from mainstream media onto politicians. Current U.S. President Trump’s reliance on Twitter is unprecedented, but the underlying implications for agenda setting are poorly understood. Using the president as a case study, we present evidence suggesting that President Trump’s use of Twitter diverts crucial media (The New York Times and ABC News) from topics that are potentially harmful to him. We find that increased media coverage of the Mueller investigation is immediately followed by Trump tweeting increasingly about unrelated issues. This increased activity, in turn, is followed by a reduction in coverage of the Mueller investigation—a finding that is consistent with the hypothesis that President Trump’s tweets may also successfully divert the media from topics that he considers threatening. The pattern is absent in placebo analyses involving Brexit coverage and several other topics that do not present a political risk to the president. Our results are robust to the inclusion of numerous control variables and examination of several alternative explanations, although the generality of the successful diversion must be established by further investigation.

Engagement in Emotional News on Social Media: Intensity and Type of Emotions

2020 ◽  
pp. 107769902095971
Author(s):  
Jihyang Choi ◽  
Sang Yup Lee ◽  
Sung Wook Ji
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
User Engagement ◽  
Discrete Emotions ◽  
News Stories ◽  
Facebook Pages ◽  
The Relationship

This study sheds new light on the relationship between emotion and engagement. Specifically, we investigate how the six discrete emotions that news visuals deliver, as well as the positiveness of news text, are associated with three engagement activities: sharing, commenting, and reacting. The findings show that users are less likely to share or comment on news posts that convey positive emotions, although they tend to react to such news frequently. The most prominent kind of emotion associated with user engagement activities was “sadness.” We analyzed 12,179 news stories posted on the four major U.S. newspapers’ Facebook pages.

scholarly journals Social Media and the Changing Information Environment

2020 ◽  
Vol 84 (S1) ◽  
pp. 195-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick W Kraft ◽  
Yanna Krupnikov ◽  
Kerri Milita ◽  
John Barry Ryan ◽  
Stuart Soroka
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Social Network Sites ◽  
New York Times ◽  
Information Environment ◽  
Self Presentation ◽  
Positive Direction ◽  
News Stories

Abstract  There is reason to believe that an increasing proportion of the news consumers receive is not from news producers directly but is recirculated through social network sites and email by ordinary citizens. This may produce some fundamental changes in the information environment, but the data to examine this possibility have thus far been relatively limited. In the current paper, we examine the changing information environment by leveraging a body of data on the frequency of (a) views, and recirculations through (b) Twitter, (c) Facebook, and (d) email of New York Times stories. We expect that the distribution of sentiment (positive-negative) in news stories will shift in a positive direction as we move from (a) to (d), based in large part on the literatures on self-presentation and imagined audiences. Our findings support this expectation and have important implications for the information contexts increasingly shaping public opinion.

scholarly journals PARE0003 MY RA STORY - PERSONAL ACCOUNTS OF LIVING WITH RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS

2020 ◽  
Vol 79 (Suppl 1) ◽  
pp. 1287.3-1288
Author(s):  
B. Lynch
Keyword(s):  
Rheumatoid Arthritis ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Education Programme ◽  
Emotional Impact ◽  
Patient Organisation ◽  
Newly Diagnosed ◽  
Personal Accounts ◽  
Surgery Education

Background:Over 2,000 people are diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in Ireland each year; three in four are of working age. In total, RA affects some 45,000 people in the country; 70 per cent of whom are women.For someone newly diagnosed with RA, coming to terms with the news can seem overwhelming.Such a dramatic shift in life circumstances can impact one’s physical and mental well-being. While there is no shortage of information available about the condition, it can be overwhelming trying to filter this, assess what is trustworthy and reliable.Objectives:•To provide information and hope to people newly diagnosed with RA, and to give a voice to those living with the condition;•To increase awareness and understanding of RA – encourage engagement with HCPs, contributing to early diagnosis and better outcomes;•To increase awareness of work of Arthritis Ireland as a patient organisation.Methods:Arthritis Ireland approached best-selling author and RA patient, Sinead Moriarty, to front an RA awareness campaign, called My RA Story.The purpose of the campaign was to increase awareness and understanding of rheumatoid arthritis, of what it is like to live with this chronic condition with its invisible pain and life-changing impact. In so doing, Arthritis Ireland wanted to give a platform to people to tell their own story, so that they could be heard. We then wanted to publish these experiences in book form.In April 2019, we launched a video on social media featuring Sinead Moriarty speaking about her experience of living with RA. The video generated lots of engagement across social media and also helped garner national and regional media coverage in print and broadcast.The call for RA stories received a fantastic response from the public and the reading panel had a tough job in selecting the contributions which would feature in the published volume. Once the successful contributions were chosen, Arthritis Ireland proceeded to design a book, which could be sold in the book trade and online.Results:In September 2019, Arthritis Ireland published My RA Story: Personal accounts of living with rheumatoid arthritis. Launched in the National Library of Ireland by Sinead Moriarty, the 46 contributions touched upon themes of pain, fatigue, emotional impact, disability, surgery, education, career, family, goal-setting, self-management, connecting with others, hope, etc.The contributors came from people who were living with RA for over 40 years, as well as from those who were more recently diagnosed.The book is a hugely valuable contribution to health literature. Arthritis Ireland now plans to make the book available for sale internationally, through Amazon and other retail channels, as well as promoting it more extensively in rheumatology clinics.In October, one of the contributors was interviewed on national television about her RA story, as part of a feature on World Arthritis Day.Conclusion:This campaign gave people living with RA a platform to write about and share about their condition. Fronted by an RA champion with significant name recognition and an enormous audience in her own right, best-selling author, Sinéad Moriarty, the book, My RA Story. Crucially, the book is a valuable resource for people who are newly diagnosed with the disease and uncertain of what the future holds.Acknowledgments:This project was supported by an educational grant from MSD.Disclosure of Interests:Brian Lynch Grant/research support from: Arthritis Ireland received a grant from MSD to develop this patient education programme. Brian Lynch has not benefited personally in any way.

Applying news values theory to liking, commenting and sharing mainstream news articles on Facebook

Journalism ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 146488492110198
Author(s):  
Chang Sup Park ◽  
Barbara K Kaye
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Social Significance ◽  
Opposite Pattern ◽  
News Values ◽  
News Stories ◽  
The Media ◽  
Facebook Pages

Drawing upon the newsworthiness model that posits that media outlets rely on criteria (news values) to determine which stories are newsworthy and deserve prominence and the media coverage predicts audience attention to the event, this study examines the news values that lead social media users to like, comment on, and share mainstream news stories on Facebook. A content analysis of 2480 articles from three major news newspapers in South Korea ( Chosun, Hankook and Hankyoreh) found that news stories of higher social significance are more common than news stories of higher deviance on the Facebook pages of the three news outlets. Although audiences comment on news stories of higher social significance more frequently than stories of higher deviance, they hit more ‘likes’ on news stories of higher deviance. The results are mixed for sharing – for the conservative Chosun’s Facebook page, stories of higher deviance were more often shared than stories of higher social significance, while the opposite pattern occurred with the moderate Hankook and liberal Hankyoreh.

Making war and peace with emotion: Examining the Iraq and Iran cases via presidential speech and media coverage

2021 ◽  
pp. 019251212098249
Author(s):  
Katherine Seaton ◽  
H Denis Wu
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Negative Emotions ◽  
War And Peace ◽  
President Obama ◽  
News Stories ◽  
Presidential Speech ◽  
Foreign Policies ◽  
The Media

This study investigates emotions conveyed in US presidential speeches and media coverage regarding the Iraq War and the Iran nuclear deal during 2003 and 2015. The researchers gathered and examined news stories about the two policies, all official speeches delivered by George W Bush and Barack Obama, and opinion polls conducted during the respective six-month period in those two years. Nine discrete emotions were coded to capture the valence and volume in the speeches and news media content. The study finds that emotions appear more frequently in the Iraq discourse than in the Iran counterpart. President Bush used more negative emotions while President Obama employed more positive emotions. Emotion in the media coverage is constant and stable across the two policy periods; yet negative emotions are more prevalent than positive counterparts in the media despite distinct foreign policies. The study also examines public opinion trends toward the two policies for inferring potential linkage. This article contributes to the conceptual nexus among emotional persuasion, journalism pattern, and foreign policy-making process.

‘My wish is for the media to stop bringing up Hiddleswift and let him live his life’: How Tom Hiddleston’s celebrity narrative was shaped by a summer romance

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 289-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daisy Pignetti
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
New York Times ◽  
Public Figure ◽  
The Media

This article relies on survey data I collected from the Hiddleston fandom in June of 2018, to gauge their long-lasting impressions of the highly publicized three-month relationship between Tom Hiddleston and Taylor Swift in 2016. Their responses reflect three significant (and overlapping) anti-fan expressions: extreme dislike of Taylor Swift, frustration with the media coverage of the ‘Hiddleswift’ spectacle and acknowledgement that it was difficult to be a fan of Hiddleston during that time. By pairing with Swift, an act many survey respondents felt was played for publicity, and simultaneously distancing himself from social media, he became inaccessible to those who had been loyal to him early in his career. I interrogate Hiddleston’s own references to himself as an ‘authentic’ public figure and then conduct close readings of the only two extended profiles that have been published since his relationship with Swift ended in 2016: one in GQ (2017) and another from the New York Times (2019). Although it was neither publication’s intent, both pieces led to further media scrutiny and mockery, which only exasperated his fans further. Ultimately, I argue that Hiddleston’s name remains pejoratively linked to Swift’s, but not vice versa, thereby proving the negative impact this short-lived romance had upon his celebrity narrative and fandom.

Tinted revolutions in prismatic news: Ideological influences in Greater China’s reporting on the role of social media in the Arab Uprisings

Journalism ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (9-10) ◽  
pp. 1471-1489
Author(s):  
Y Roselyn Du
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Greater China ◽  
News Stories ◽  
Arab Uprisings ◽  
The Media

Social media is widely seen as playing a crucial role in the Arab Uprisings. This study compares news coverage in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan regarding social media in the Arab Uprisings. Content analysis of 162 news stories revealed that media in the three regions constructed their coverage within different frames, despite the events being geographically remote to the three Greater China regions and occurring in countries with which Greater China has little cultural, religious, ethnical, or economic connections. Overall, a clear pro-social-media pattern was found in Hong Kong and Taiwan media coverage, whereas in mainland China social media and the users involved in the Arab Uprisings were treated in the news in an obscured or unfavorable manner. Mainland China’s coverage was less likely to mention censorship of social media in the revolutions, whereas Hong Kong and Taiwan media frequently reported censorship and took a stance against it. Hong Kong and Taiwan media were also inclined to relate situations in the Arab Uprisings to mainland China. Such variations in the media coverage arguably are mainly due to ideological differences.

scholarly journals The Role of Media and Communication in Reducing Uncertainty During the Syria War

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 297-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Kozman ◽  
Rana Tabbara ◽  
Jad Melki
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Civil War ◽  
Interpersonal Communication ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Online Media ◽  
Cluster Sampling ◽  
Perceived Importance ◽  
The Relationship

Ten years after the uprising in Syria, millions of its citizens remain displaced and uncertain about their fate. Throughout that period, media coverage about the ensuing civil war played a major role in informing Syrians and contributed to altering their levels of fear and anxiety about their country’s future and their survival prospects. This study examined the role of legacy media, online media, and interpersonal communication in increasing or reducing uncertainty among displaced and non-displaced Syrians. Through a revised construct of uncertainty reduction theory within the context of a civil war, we assessed the relationship between exposure to these media sources and feeling anxious, uncertain, angry, and in danger, and whether these feelings influenced information consumption trends. We also probed the connection between their anxiety levels and sharing information, both interpersonally and on social media. The study surveyed 2,192 Syrian adults (95% CI, ±2.5) living in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey, both inside and outside refugee camps, using a random multistage cluster sampling technique. The findings revealed a strong relationship between positive emotions and time spent on legacy and online media. The more secure, proud, and hopeful people felt, the more likely they were to spend time on media sources. This relationship, however, was moderated by the perceived importance of these sources. Feelings of pride, security, and hopefulness generated by television and online media correlated with the time people spent on these media sources, and the perceived importance of such media further strengthened this relationship. A different picture appeared in the relationship between positive emotions and interpersonal communication, where the perceived importance of talking to people not only significantly moderated the relationship but also canceled out the main effect of positive emotions on the time people spend communicating with others. The findings also indicated that feelings of uncertainty about these sources may stand in the way of sharing information about the war on social media.

Talking about Racism in the Context of the Trial against George Floyd’s Murderer: Practical Recommendations for Professionals, Parents, & Clinicians

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chardée Galán ◽  
Irene Tung ◽  
Alexandra Tabachnick ◽  
Stefanie Sequeira ◽  
Derek M. Novacek ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Public Support ◽  
New York Times ◽  
The United States ◽  
Research Center ◽  
Health Providers ◽  
Racial Trauma ◽  
Black Lives Matter

In the weeks following the killing of George Floyd and media coverage of the killings of Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, the Black Lives Matter movement and other protests for racial justice swept the world. Demonstrations occurred in more than 700 cities internationally and across all 50 states in the United States. Notably, demands for the dismantling of systemic racism extended far beyond police brutality to include inequities in health, housing, economic opportunity, and other sectors. In academia, faculty, students, and staff called attention to the ways in which “universities remain ivory towers perpetuating institutionalized forms of racism, oppression, and inequity” (p. 13, Galán et al., 2021; Gray, Joseph, Glover, & Olayiwola, 2020), while psychologists highlighted the ways in which direct and vicarious exposure to racial violence and discrimination may compromise mental health and contribute to racial trauma. Although Pew Research Center surveys in June 2020 showed increased recognition of racism as a problem and increased public support for the Black Lives Matter movement, support for these issues has since returned to pre-June levels among White people (Pew Research Center, 2020). However, the trial for Derek Chauvin - the White, former Minneapolis police officer charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter for the murder of George Floyd – is scheduled to start March 8, 2021. With Chauvin’s trial certain to garner wide-spread media coverage and protests, it is likely that we will see another uptick in conversations and concerns regarding racial inequities. While conversation and action towards dismantling racism are always welcomed and needed, we must stop the practice of only recognizing a problem when it is in our face, sprawled across social media feeds, news segments, and websites. These reactive practices do little to dismantle oppressive systems, especially when they are followed by complacency that often settles in as news headlines transition to the next “hot topic” and our positions of power and privilege allow us to go on with our lives, as if the racist systems and practices we vehemently opposed just a week earlier have suddenly been abolished.So, before our Twitter accounts, the New York Times, USA Today, and every other newspaper outlet bombard us with headlines, reminding us of why protests swept our country last summer, let us be intentional with reflecting on: (1) larger systems of oppression and racism that this trial represents and the ways in which we have been complicit (or active contributors) to their perpetuation, and (2) the effect that this trial may have on our Black colleagues, students, clients, and friends. We offer the following recommendations for health providers, educators, parents, and social media users.

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