Logo image
JOURNALISTIC USE OF EXEMPLARS TO HUMANIZE HEALTH NEWS
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

JOURNALISTIC USE OF EXEMPLARS TO HUMANIZE HEALTH NEWS

Amanda Hinnant, Maria E. Len-Rios and Rachel Young
Journalism studies (London, England), Vol.14(4), pp.539-554
08/01/2013
DOI: 10.1080/1461670X.2012.721633
PMCID: PMC3873218
PMID: 24376370
url
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/3873218View
Open Access

Abstract

Health journalists often use personal stories to put a face on a health issue. This research uses a sociology-of-news approach, based on data collected from 42 in-depth interviews and three surveys with health journalists and editors (national, N=774; state, N=55; and purposive, N=180), to provide a first look at how important journalists think exemplars are to their stories. Results show journalists select exemplars to serve the purposes of informing, connecting, and getting attention. Some of the strategies journalists use to locate exemplars pose ethical concerns. Further, journalists rank the use of exemplars lower in aiding audience understanding compared with the use of experts, data and statistics, and definitions of technical terms.
Communication Social Sciences

Details

Metrics

Logo image