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Li L, Gao F. Contrasting semantic and sentimental features between Chinese and American economic news discourse in the epidemic era: A corpus-based critical discourse analysis. Soc Sci Humanit Open 2023; 7:100435. [PMID: 36778104 PMCID: PMC9904540 DOI: 10.1016/j.ssaho.2023.100435] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2022] [Revised: 01/18/2023] [Accepted: 02/02/2023] [Indexed: 02/10/2023]
Abstract
The COVID -19 pandemic, as a global health emergency, has attracted a great deal of attention from the international community. In this context, China attaches great importance to economic development and news coverage because the economy concerns people's interests, while media coverage of the economy plays a crucial role in influencing citizens' attitudes and even social stability. While researchers from different disciplines are studying the epidemic, such as education, mental health, and vaccines, existing research into the media discourse of COVID-19 is limited, especially regarding its semantic and sentimental features, and it remains unclear whether the coverage of media news in different countries would draw on varying lenses. To this end, this study constructed a corpus of Chinese and American news reports from January 2020 to August 2021 and analyzed the meaning, lexicality, affective polarity, and theme extraction. Our results suggested that the mainstream media in China and the United States show opposite attitudes toward the same economic situation in China. Further, we interpreted this discrepancy in light of the "explanation" component of Fairclough's three-dimensional model. Such inconsistencies could relate to the differences in cultural backgrounds, modes of operation, and news philosophies between the two countries. Thus, by using a corpus-based approach combined with critical discourse analysis (CDA), our study not only broadens the scope of news discourse analysis, but also advances our understandings of the semantic and sentimental features of news coverage during COVID-19 and the possible reasons behind the differences between countries from a more macro perspective.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luanying Li
- Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Macau, Macau SAR, China,Corresponding author
| | - Fei Gao
- Institute of Modern Languages and Linguistics, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, China,Centre for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, University of Macau, Macau SAR, China
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Southwell BG, Duval S, Luepker RV, Oldenburg N, Van't Hof J, Eder M, Russell C, Graves RN, Finnegan J. News coverage about aspirin as a countervailing force against low-dose aspirin campaign promotion. Transl Behav Med 2021; 11:1941-1946. [PMID: 34080629 DOI: 10.1093/tbm/ibab065] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Organized health promotion efforts sometimes compete with news media, social media, and other sources when providing recommendations for healthy behavior. In recent years, patients have faced a complicated information environment regarding aspirin use as a prevention tool for heart health. We explored the possibility that campaign promotion of low-dose aspirin use might have been undermined by news coverage in the USA detailing controversies regarding aspirin use. Using time series data on low-dose aspirin sales in Minnesota, USA, we assessed whether news coverage of aspirin or audience engagement with the Ask About Aspirin campaign website predicted subsequent changes in low-dose aspirin sales, over and above any secular trend. News coverage predicted actual low-dose aspirin purchases whereas exposure to a state-level campaign did not. While a campaign effort to encourage people at risk to discuss low-dose aspirin use with their health care providers did not generate substantive changes in low-dose aspirin tablet sales in the areas of Minnesota monitored for this study, past news coverage about aspirin use, including news about negative side effects, may have suppressed low-dose aspirin sales during this same period. The extent of news coverage about aspirin and heart health had a negative effect on tablet sales recorded in greater Minnesota approximately a month later in an ARIMA time series model, coefficient = -.014, t = -2.33, p = .02. Presented evidence of news coverage effect suggests health campaign assessment should consider trends in the public information environment as potential countervailing forces.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Sue Duval
- University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | | | | | | | - Milton Eder
- University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
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Abstract
PURPOSE OF REVIEW This paper reviews research on the effects of contact with war media coverage on psychological outcomes in children. RECENT FINDINGS Children's contact with media coverage of war is pervasive and is associated with numerous outcomes and with their parents' reactions. Younger children are more affected by news stories with visual cues, while older children are more distressed by stories about actual threat. There is a strong theoretical basis for developmental influences on children's war media reactions, but the potential influence of other child factors (e.g., gender, socioeconomic disadvantage, prior trauma, culture, religious and political ideology) and aspects of coverage and the context of contact warrant additional attention. More research also is needed to explore differential effects of media coverage on children with different war exposures, the strategies children use to cope with coverage, and the mediating effects of parental involvement and intervention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Betty Pfefferbaum
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, 920 Stanton L. Young Boulevard, WP3217, P.O. Box 26901, Oklahoma City, OK, 73126-0901, USA.
| | - Phebe Tucker
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, 920 Stanton L. Young Boulevard, WP3547, P.O. Box 26901, Oklahoma City, OK, 73126-0901, USA
| | - Vandana Varma
- Behavioral Health Group, HOPE Community Health Center, 7001 Corporate Drive, Suite 120, Houston, TX, 77036, USA
| | - Yogesh Varma
- Infrastructure Solutions Group, Dell Technologies, Round Rock, TX, 78682, USA
| | - Pascal Nitiéma
- Management Information Systems Division, Price College of Business, University of Oklahoma, 307 W. Brooks, Adams Hall 303, Norman, OK, 73019, USA
| | - Elana Newman
- Department of Psychology, Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, University of Tulsa, 800 South Tucker Drive, Tulsa, OK, 74103, USA
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Tan ASL, Lee CJ, Nagler RH, Bigman CA. To vape or not to vape? Effects of exposure to conflicting news headlines on beliefs about harms and benefits of electronic cigarette use: Results from a randomized controlled experiment. Prev Med 2017; 105:97-103. [PMID: 28882742 PMCID: PMC5653463 DOI: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2017.08.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2017] [Revised: 08/16/2017] [Accepted: 08/27/2017] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
News coverage of novel tobacco products including e-cigarettes has framed the use of these products with both positive and negative slants. Conflicting information may shape public knowledge, perceptions of e-cigarettes, and their harms. The objective of this study is to assess effects of exposure to conflicting news coverage on US adults' beliefs about harms and benefits of e-cigarette use. We conducted a one-way between-subjects randomized controlled experiment in 2016 to compare the effects of viewing either 1) positive, 2) negative, 3) both positive and negative (conflicting) news headlines about the safety of using e-cigarettes, or 4) no-message. Participants were 2056 adults aged 18 and older from an online survey panel. Outcomes were beliefs about harms (3-item scale, α=0.76) and benefits (3-item scale, α=0.82) of using e-cigarettes. Participants who viewed negative headlines reported increased beliefs about harms (B=0.164, p=0.039) and lower beliefs about benefits of e-cigarette use (B=-0.216, p=0.009), compared with those in the positive headlines condition. These differences were replicated in subgroup analyses among never e-cigarette users. In addition, never e-cigarette users who viewed conflicting headlines reported lower beliefs about benefits of e-cigarette use (B=-0.221, p=0.030) than the positive headlines condition. Valence of news coverage about e-cigarettes (positive, negative, or conflicting) could influence people's beliefs about harms and benefits of e-cigarette use.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andy S L Tan
- Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Population Sciences Division, Center for Community Based Research, Boston, USA; Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Boston, USA.
| | - Chul-Joo Lee
- Seoul National University, Department of Communication, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Rebekah H Nagler
- University of Minnesota, Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Minneapolis, USA
| | - Cabral A Bigman
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Department of Communication, Urbana, USA
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Jensen JD, Ratcliff C, Weaver J, Krakow MM, Payton W, Loewen S. Explicating perceived barriers to mammography for the USCREEN project: concerns about breast implants, faith violations, and perceived recommendations. Breast Cancer Res Treat 2015; 154:201-7. [PMID: 26424166 DOI: 10.1007/s10549-015-3581-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2015] [Accepted: 09/19/2015] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
In line with the health belief model, perceived barriers have proven to be a key determinant of intentions to screen for breast cancer. The standard measure of perceived barriers to breast cancer screening is an 11 item scale developed by Victoria Champion. However, perceived barriers emerge and change over time, and Champion's perceived barriers scale was last revised in 1999. Moreover, the original scale did not address barriers which may be more pronounced in particular populations, such as congruity of action with faith. As part of the Utah Screening Project, a sample of women 40-74 (N = 341, Mage = 51.19, SD = 8.11) were recruited from four Utah counties in 2014 to complete a survey. The results revealed that the four new perceived barrier items explained 6.4 % of intentions to screen, above and beyond other predictors. In addition to barriers identified in past research, the current study identified several novel barriers including (a) concerns about negative effects to breast implants, (b) perceived conflict with faith, and the (c) perception that mammography is no longer recommended. The new perceived barriers items are useful to researchers interested in exploring barriers not addressed by the original instrument. The barriers also suggest potential belief-based targets and channels (e.g., plastic surgery clinics, faith-based interventions) for delivering mammography interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jakob D Jensen
- Department of Communication, University of Utah, 2423 LNCO, 255 S. Central Campus Drive, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA. .,Huntsman Cancer Institute, Salt Lake City, USA.
| | - Chelsea Ratcliff
- Department of Communication, University of Utah, 2423 LNCO, 255 S. Central Campus Drive, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA
| | - Jeremy Weaver
- Department of Communication, University of Utah, 2423 LNCO, 255 S. Central Campus Drive, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA
| | - Melinda M Krakow
- Division of Cancer Prevention, National Cancer Institute, NIH 9609 Medical Center Drive, Bethesda, 20892-9712, USA
| | - William Payton
- Department of Communication, University of Utah, 2423 LNCO, 255 S. Central Campus Drive, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA
| | - Sherrie Loewen
- Department of Communication, University of Utah, 2423 LNCO, 255 S. Central Campus Drive, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA
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