Abstract
Abstract To reduce negative emotional responses and to stimulate prosociality, constructive journalism promotes the inclusion of positive emotions and solutions in news. This study experimentally tested whether including those elements indeed increased prosocial intentions and behavior among children, and whether negative emotions and self-efficacy are mediators in this regard. To this end, children (N = 468; 9 to 13 years old) were exposed to an emotion-based, solution-based, or non-constructive news video. Results showed that emotion-based and solution-based news reduced children’s negative emotions compared to non-constructive news. No direct effects for prosocial intentions were found, but solution-based news led to less prosocial behavior (i. e., money donated) than emotion-based and non-constructive news. Moreover, negative emotions served as a mediator, self-efficacy did not. The more negative emotions were elicited by a news story, the higher the prosocial intentions and behavior. In conclusion, a constructive style of reporting helps to reduce children’s negative emotional responses but subsequently hinders prosociality.
Highlights
A core function of journalism is to disseminate important and credible information that helps people cope with their environment
There were no significant differences in prosocial intentions between non-constructive (M = 6.34, SD = 2.28), emotion-based (M = 6.43, SD = 2.04), and solution-based (M = 6.18, SD = 2.03) news, F(2, 452) = 0.567, p = .568, =
To investigate RQ2, we examined the extent to which negative emotions functioned as a mediator in the relationship between exposure to solution-based news and prosocial intentions and behavior among children
Summary
A core function of journalism is to disseminate important and credible information that helps people cope with their environment. Following the news can increase children’s political and issue awareness (Van Deth, Abendschön, and Vollmar, 2011) as well as their prosocial intentions and behaviors (De Leeuw, Kleemans, Rozendaal, Anschütz, and Buijzen, 2015). G., Buijzen, Walma van der Molen, and Sondij, 2007; Cantor and Nathanson, 1996), which, in turn, can hinder their willingness to follow the news (Alon-Tirosh and Lemish, 2014). Negative news may trigger ‘downward spirals’ of negative emotions, which may cause feelings of powerlessness, discouraging children to act in a prosocial manner (cf. Garland et al, 2010)
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