Online-based news stories that use anger, hope, or happiness as frames can hold readers longer than those framed by anger, a recent study revealed.
The study was conducted by Theresa M. de los Santos, an assistant professor of communication at Pepperdine University and Robin L. Nabi, a professor of communication at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Researchers came to this conclusion after studying 452 undergraduate students in the U.S. between 18 and 26 years old. They were asked to read news stories on a news website called “enewspoint.com”.
The study found that using frames of hope and anger in news stories increase the readers’ message engagement process, while stories using fear-based issues could not engage the audience.
To read more: https://doi.org/10.1080/08838151.2019.1566861
Theresa M. de los Santos & Robin L. Nabi (2019) Emotionally Charged: Exploring the Role of Emotion in Online News Information Seeking and Processing, Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 63:1, 39-58, DOI: 10.1080/08838151.2019.1566861
