How Does the Audience Respond to Constructive Journalism

Two experiments with multifaceted results

Bibliographic Data

ID7500809
AuthorsKlaus Meier (0000-0002-0582-2172, corresponding author)
Year2018
Volume12
Issue6
Pages764-780
Publication date2018-05-10
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournalism Practice (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1751-2786 • E-ISSN: 1751-2794
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17512786.2018.1470472
OpenAlexW2800185607
LanguageEN
Citations received43
References cited7

The various practices of constructive journalism have the common objective to achieve certain effects on the audience: on the micro-level, the users’ information and emotion, on the meso-level the loyalty towards a media company, and on the macro-level the progress of society. Taking a holistic definition of constructive journalism as a basis, the two experiments discussed in this article examined the audience responses to German-language news and features presented to readers and radio listeners in both constructive and non-constructive versions. The results are multifaceted. On the micro-level, constructive forms can counteract a negative view of the world because the audience recognises a solution-orientation and underlying spirit of hope. The increased willingness to share constructive stories indicates, on the macro-level, that constructive reporting can raise the perception of possible solutions and role models and hence encourage engagement and emulation. But the hopeful prospects should not be used to simply garnish a difficult problem at any price and maintaining a distance from positive examples is advisable—otherwise, the constructive story runs the risk of being perceived as a commercial or political influence

Advertising · Business · Constructive · Journalism · Loyalty · Media studies · Perception · Political science · Politics · Process (computing · Public relations · Sociology · Computer Science · Linguistic Education and Pedagogy · Linguistic research and analysis · Media Studies and Communication · Psychology · Law · Marketing

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