"If it bleeds it leads"? Attributes of TV health news stories that drive viewer attention.
Advanced Search
Select up to three search categories and corresponding keywords using the fields to the right. Refer to the Help section for more detailed instructions.

Search our Collections & Repository

For very narrow results

When looking for a specific result

Best used for discovery & interchangable words

Recommended to be used in conjunction with other fields

Dates

to

Document Data
Library
People
Clear All
Clear All

For additional assistance using the Custom Query please check out our Help Page

i

"If it bleeds it leads"? Attributes of TV health news stories that drive viewer attention.

Filetype[PDF-5.22 MB]


Select the Download button to view the document
This document is over 5mb in size and cannot be previewed
English

Details:

  • Alternative Title:
    Public Health Rep
  • Personal Author:
  • Description:
    Health advocates increasing y use the news media to educate the public. However, little is known about what motivates individuals to pay attention to health news. This study investigated which characteristics of TV health news stories attract viewer interest.|The authors surveyed airport patrons, the audience of a public health symposium, and municipal jurors, asking which attributes of TV heath news stories encouraged interest and which attributes discouraged interest. The authors ranked mean responses and compared them using Spearman rank correlations,|The rankings assigned by the three samples were highly correlated. Respondents reported being most attracted to health stories about personally relevant topics. Interestingly, they also reported that sensational story elements such as "showing a bloody or injured person" and "being action packed" did not substantially influence their attention.|This study suggests that viewers, regardless of their level of health knowledge, value the same attributes in TV health news stories. Emphasizing the personal relevance of health topics appears to be a viable strategy to capture viewer interest. Conversely, the tendency of broadcast news to sensationalize stories may be distracting in the case of health news.
  • Subjects:
  • Source:
  • Pubmed ID:
    11059426
  • Pubmed Central ID:
    PMCnull
  • Document Type:
  • Funding:
  • Volume:
    115
  • Issue:
    4
  • Collection(s):
  • Main Document Checksum:
  • Download URL:
  • File Type:

Supporting Files

  • No Additional Files
More +

Related Documents

You May Also Like

Checkout today's featured content at stacks.cdc.gov