Journalistic Use of Exemplars to Humanize Health News

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 inform, inspire, and/or sensationalize a health issue. 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.

Putting a Face on It

“…This skepticism largely corresponds with traditional journalistic perceptions of emotions as unprofessional and symbols of low quality, tabloid reporting (see Pannti (2010) for discussion). The criticism further dovetails with media criticism from the medical community, which warns against the emotionalizing and oversimplification of mediated health debates (Hinnant et al, 2013). The editor in a specialized paper, serves as a particularly outspoken representative of this position, describing Norwegian mediated health discourse as a tyranny of cases.…”

“…Health journalists are recurrently under criticism from the medical community for oversimplifying medical information, as journalistic formats are perceived as undermining scientific requirements for credibility (methodology, rigor, precision and validity) (Hinnant et al, 2012). More specifically, the personal narrative has been criticized for emotionalizing and simplifying mediated health debates at the cost of scientific reason (see Hinnant et al (2013) for in-depth discussion).…”

“…In their study of exemplar use in health journalism, Hinnant et al (2013) find that journalists use exemplars first and foremost to educate and connect (humanize, identify and diminish the abstraction), as a journalistic tool to grab the public's attention (an anecdotal hook). Health journalists recruit cases from medical experts, clinical trials, or among their news audience, something that raises concerns over strategic use of exemplars to promote other interests (Hinnant et al, 2013, p. 550).…”

De effecten van other-benefit appeals, self-benefit appeals en exemplars bij het werven van vrijwilligers voor charitatieve organisaties

“…Van exemplars wordt gedacht dat ze een tekst levendig en begrijpelijk maken (Brosius, 1999). Deze levendigheid en begrijpelijkheid zijn voor journalisten redenen om hun artikelen van dit soort persoonlijke verhalen te voorzien (Hinnant, Len-Ríos, & Young, 2012). Ook in persuasieve teksten wordt veelvuldig gebruik gemaakt van exemplars (Zillmann & Brosius, 2000).…”

“…Concrete informatie maakt een tekst interessanter (Sadoski, Goetz, & Rodriquez, 2000) en daarom wordt verwacht dat wervingsbrieven met een exemplar beter gewaardeerd worden dan wervingsbrieven zonder exemplar. Exemplars maken een tekst daarnaast levendig en begrijpelijk (Brosius, 1999;Hinnant et al, 2012 De tweede onafhankelijke variabele was de aan-of afwezigheid van een exemplar in de brief. In de brieven met een exemplar werd het bovenstaande fragment (de conditie zonder exemplar) vervangen door een persoonlijk verhaal.…”