{"title":"Diverse news, diverse perceptions? Investigating the effects of actor and viewpoint diversity in news content on audience perceptions and opinions","authors":"Kathleen Beckers","doi":"10.1177/14648849241264130","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"This study examines journalism’s role in bridging divides by presenting diverse perspectives in societal debates. While prior research has emphasized the significance of diverse news content, this study investigates how audiences perceive and value such diversity and its impact on their attitudes. Through an online experiment in the Flemish (Belgian) context, it was found that actor diversity is more noticeable, yet increasing diversity in actors and viewpoints does not enhance a news item’s perceived credibility. Moreover, although people are influenced in the direction of the viewpoint provided in a one-sided article, it appears that when a diversity of viewpoints is presented, people tend to primarily consider those opinions that already align with their pre-existing viewpoints. By gaining a deeper understanding of how audiences receive news coverage, journalists can critically evaluate the voices they present and contribute to a more diverse public debate.","PeriodicalId":51432,"journal":{"name":"Journalism","volume":"15 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7000,"publicationDate":"2024-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journalism","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14648849241264130","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"COMMUNICATION","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This study examines journalism’s role in bridging divides by presenting diverse perspectives in societal debates. While prior research has emphasized the significance of diverse news content, this study investigates how audiences perceive and value such diversity and its impact on their attitudes. Through an online experiment in the Flemish (Belgian) context, it was found that actor diversity is more noticeable, yet increasing diversity in actors and viewpoints does not enhance a news item’s perceived credibility. Moreover, although people are influenced in the direction of the viewpoint provided in a one-sided article, it appears that when a diversity of viewpoints is presented, people tend to primarily consider those opinions that already align with their pre-existing viewpoints. By gaining a deeper understanding of how audiences receive news coverage, journalists can critically evaluate the voices they present and contribute to a more diverse public debate.
期刊介绍：
Journalism is a major international, peer-reviewed journal that provides a dedicated forum for articles from the growing community of academic researchers and critical practitioners with an interest in journalism. The journal is interdisciplinary and publishes both theoretical and empirical work and contributes to the social, economic, political, cultural and practical understanding of journalism. It includes contributions on current developments and historical changes within journalism.
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