Good Story Research Articles

The Making of Good News: Discursive Construction of Good News Through News Values

ABSTRACT Good news aims to redress the balance from negative bias and contributes to a more comprehensive form of journalism. This article explores the largely ignored discursive construction of good news through news values. It first investigates the features of good news stories as against top news stories in the mainstream media, and then identifies differences in the discursive practices by the mainstream media and the good news outlets in covering the same events. The findings show that in the mainstream media, top news stories tend to highlight Eliteness and Negativity, whereas good news stories give emphasis to Personalization and Positivity. When covering the same events, reports by the good news outlets show an overemphasis on Positivity, and those by the mainstream media demonstrate a more balanced distribution of the major news values. It is proposed that good news can serve as a valuable complement to top news in the mainstream media. Reports in the mainstream media tend to be more comprehensive and informative, and the relatively shorter reports in the good news outlets pay more attention to the positive aspects of the event that are effective in uplifting the readers’ mood.

Can AI tell good stories? Narrative transportation and persuasion with ChatGPT

Abstract Storytelling is a human universal. The ubiquity of stories and the rapid development in Artificial Intelligence (AI) pose important questions: can AI like ChatGPT tell engaging and persuasive stories? If so, what makes a narrative engaging and persuasive? Three pre-registered experiments comparing human-generated narratives from existing research and the ChatGPT-generated versions using descriptions and materials from these studies show that labeling AI as a narrative source led to lower transportation, higher counterarguing, and lower story-consistent beliefs. However, AI-generated narratives led to lower (Study 1 and 3) or similar levels (Study 2) of counterarguing than the human-generated version. Readers showed lower (Study 2) or similar levels of transportation (Study 1 and 3) when reading the AI- than the human-generated stories. We suggest the AI model’s linguistic competence and logical coherence contribute to its stories’ verisimilitude. However, AI’s lack of lived experience and creativity may limit its storytelling ability.

Good stories overwrite creativity: the three eras of city competition

Good stories overwrite creativity: the three eras of city competition

Good stories well told? Former right-wing extremists’ self-narratives in German schools for preventing hate, radicalization, and violence

This paper concentrates on German school interventions with former right-wing extremists for preventive and educational purposes, in view of storytelling. The involvement of former extremists in schools is associated with well-intentioned aims and various assumptions about impacts and attributions. However, current research reveals that these projects feature more challenges than positive potentials. Thus, in this paper we take former right-wing extremists’ self-narratives during these school talk interventions as a starting point for an in-depth examination of potential risks and challenges. Considering the present state of the art, we attempt to provide preliminary answers to the questions of whom these projects target, why they are conducted, what are their contents, and how they transfer information. In sum, we are inclined to conclude that caution is advisable when contemplating such interventions for educational settings with young people.

Curating 'the good story': Care as representative performance in Danish veteran rehabilitation.

In this article, we explore the intricacies of veteran care and show how care practices come to incorporate veterans' 'self-performances' to raise political attention and funding for future rehabilitation activities. By bringing into dialogue theories of care and theories of performance and representation, we illustrate how a seemingly classic form of care-veteran rehabilitation-takes the form of representative performance. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with the Danish Invictus Games team, we demonstrate how politics, research and TV documentaries are integrated into veteran care practices. Through this integration, mentally wounded veterans, while performing 'themselves' for shifting audiences with shifting agendas, come to assume the roles of both caregivers and care receivers. Crucially, we highlight that wounded veterans, while undertaking their personal rehabilitation journey, are curated into and (un)willingly positioned as representatives of others. By showing how caring for wounded veterans goes hand in hand with caring for fictive, future wounded veterans and for political, research and media agendas, this article offers new ways of thinking of and with care.

Cross-cultural Communication Strategies of Forbidden City Cultural Documentaries on Overseas Social Media--Taking "I Repair Cultural Relics in the Forbidden City" on YouTube platform as an example

Telling a good Chinese story and enhancing the dissemination, cohesion, and influence of Chinese culture is an important direction to show China's cultural soft power, and an important issue to build a strong cultural country. Utilizing documentaries to creatively transform traditional Chinese culture and incorporate it into the dissemination of Chinese stories and Chinese discourse is conducive to the realization of "high-quality going out" of Chinese culture. This paper selects the documentary "I Repair Cultural Relics in the Forbidden City" released by CCTV on the overseas video platform YouTube as the research object and analyzes the cross-cultural communication strategy of this documentary on YouTube based on the SPEAKING theory under the method of communicative ethnography. It is found that the following points are usually more important to realize the success of Chinese culture "borrowing ship to go to the sea" using documentary communication: firstly, documentaries need to make use of overseas media platforms to carry out multimodal cross-interaction, turn abstract concepts of Chinese culture into visualization, and promote audiences' understanding and recognition of Chinese culture utilizing colorful expressions; secondly, to build a cultural network to promote the understanding and recognition of Chinese culture; and secondly, to build a cultural network to promote the understanding and recognition of Chinese culture using multimodal interaction. First, documentaries need to make use of overseas media platforms to engage in multimodal cross-interaction, turn abstract concepts of Chinese culture into figurative ones, and promote audiences' understanding of Chinese culture colorfully; second, they need to build a space of common cultural meanings, and use commonplace contents such as human fires to trigger the resonance of the overseas audience; and third, they need to merge the dialectical thinking of globalization and localization, and tell the story of China in international language. The in-depth study of documentaries on overseas video platforms in this paper is conducive to providing experience and reference for the production of future documentaries and has certain reference value for documentaries to better present a comprehensive and authentic Chinese culture to the world.

The Analysis of Setting and Atmosphere on The Old Man and the Sea

A good story is not only formed from the plot but can also be formed from the development of setting and atmosphere. This research wants to see how setting and atmosphere can play an active role in shaping and building a story. Especially in the story The Old Man and the Sea. This research is based on the book by E. M. Forster which examines the elements in the novel in his book, namely Aspects of the Novel. This research uses a descriptive qualitative method so that the results of this research are described descriptively and in detail. In the story The Old Man and the Sea, the author uses temporal setting to make the story completely dependent on the setting. So, the novel The Old Man and the Sea is formed from plot development that depends on the setting.

Nonepisodic autobiographical memory details reflect attempts to tell a good story.

A persistent finding in the autobiographical memory (AM) literature is that older adults report more nonepisodic (or generalized/semantic) information than young adults. Since studies are usually focused on memory for episodic (or specific) autobiographical events, the reason for the age difference in nonepisodic AM remains understudied. This experiment investigated whether the higher rate of nonepisodic AM in older adults reflects (a) a difference incommunicative preferences or (b) cognitive decline, by way of either an inhibition deficit or as a means of compensating for a deficit in episodic AM. A sample of 54 young (N = 28, age range = 18-46) and older (N = 26, age range = 62-86) participants retrieved the same AM twice, under two different sets of instructions: to tell a good story for their autobiography, or to provide a detailed police witness statement. Both groups reported more general details when they were aiming to tell a good story. In addition, older adults also reported fewer specific details when the aim was to tell a good story. In a separate ranking task, young and older adults differed in their perceptions of what makes a good story; young adults ranked "detail," "grammar," and "full descriptions" more highly than older adults, whereas older ranked "linking ideas" and "explaining not just describing" more highly than young adults. The results suggest that age-related differences in nonepisodic AM might be explained by communicative preferences rather than cognitive decline. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Better life stories make better lives: a reply to Berg

Is it good for us if the different parts of our lives are connected to each other like the parts of a good story? Some philosophers have thought so, while others have firmly rejected it. In this paper, I focus on the state-of-the-art anti-narrativist arguments Amy Berg has recently presented in this journal. I argue that while she makes a good case that the best kind of lives for us do not revolve around a single project or theme, the best kind of narrativist views actually encourage us to pursue a variety of different projects, as long as they are mutually supportive. I claim that when interpreted in the most plausible way, prudentially good-making narrative coherence arises precisely out of this kind of unity in diversity. Well-roundedness and narrative coherence are thus not inherently in tension, but are both good-making holistic features of our lives.

The Interweaving of Film Media and Cultural Inheritance: A Case Study of Chang An

The explosion of the new cultural animated film series Chang An has opened a new prelude to the interweaving of traditional culture and modern media, and has become a new focus of research on cultural heritage. With the advent and challenges of the new media era, Chang An, as a film that presents the profound heritage of Chinese culture, cleverly uses unique narrative techniques and visual presentation. Based on the focus of telling good Chinese stories, modern media plays a powerful role in communication, driving the prosperity and development of the cultural industry. This paper aims to explore the communication strategies and effects of film media on cultural heritage. By using content analysis method to analyze the film Chang An in detail, it strives to reveal how the film not only inherits Chinese culture but also successfully attracts the attention of modern audiences. The research results show that the communication effect of the film is very significant, realizing creative communication and cross-cultural dialogue, improving the audience's identity with traditional culture, and showing the potential and value of film media in cultural heritage.

Is a Good Story Enough? A Critical Analysis of Storyteller Roles in Tourism

As storytelling influences consumer attitudes and opinions, conditioning the tourist experience by appealing to the imagination, this paper reviews the literature covering the analysis of 66 papers that focus on the storytelling of the visitor/tourist as the main subject. The article is divided into four main themes: (a) storytelling as a tool to attract tourists; (b) the role of the storyteller; (c) the tourist as a storyteller; and (d) what makes a good story. The Hoshin Kanri Matrix was used to showcase each of the main themes. Although storytelling has been widely used to attract tourists, it is crucial that tourist-based storytelling can be a credible substitute for destination-based storytelling, as empathy, authenticity and the emotional attachment of tourists as storytellers play an important role as “good stories,” transforming and co-creating their experiences that emerge from the interaction of tourists, residents, and intermediaries.

Interaction between Excellent Traditional Chinese Culture and A Community of Shared Future for Mankind

This study was designed to investigate the relationship between excellent traditional Chinese culture and a community of shared future for mankind from two sides. On the one hand, it analyzed the positive influence of a community of shared future for mankind on the culture through two dimensions (both theoretical and practical), the challenges facing the culture, as well as the feasible paths to promote the development of the culture. On the other hand, it discussed in three aspects that the community of a shared future for mankind borrowed the ideas from traditional Chinese culture, mainly concerning the relationship between human and nature, the views on righteousness and interests, along with safety and peace. The results elaborated thoroughly the interaction between the excellent traditional Chinese culture and a community of shared future for mankind. Therefore, contributions need to be made to the call of telling good Chinese stories in certain degree so as to improve our national soft power.

‘What is a Good Story?’: An Interview with Éilís Ní Dhuibhne

‘What is a Good Story?’: An Interview with Éilís Ní Dhuibhne

Study on English Localization Translation of Domestic Games—Taking the Opera “The Divine Damsel of Devastation” in Genshin Impact as an Example

In recent years, the demand for game enterprises to explore overseas markets has been growing. Not only have more high-quality foreign games been imported into China, but Chinese games have also become an important part of Chinese culture “going out” and “telling good Chinese stories”. This paper takes the global high popularity game Genshin Impact as an example, and combines the Skopos theory to update the research on game localization from the perspective of Chinese-English translation, and analyzes the application of translation and creation in the process of localization translation of drama.

Research on the Teaching Reform of “Curriculum Ideology and Politics” for English Majors under the Background of the “New Liberal Arts Construction”

In recent years, curriculum ideological and political education has become a hot topic in educational reform. The concept of curriculum ideological and political education provides a new convergence point for the integration of subject teaching and ideological and political education. Its purpose is to infiltrate the core content of ideological and political education in subject teaching, organically integrate ideological and political curriculum teaching with the subjects, and implement the fundamental task of cultivating students’ morality. In the process of English teaching, cultivating students’ firm political stance is particularly important, especially in cultural comparison and dissemination, nurturing students to “tell a good Chinese story”, spreading excellent traditional Chinese culture, and demonstrating cultural confidence. Further exploration is needed. In the context of the integrated reform of ideological and political education in universities, middle and primary schools, the research on curriculum ideological and political education in subject teaching is not yet in-depth and extensive. Based on the curriculum standards for morality and the rule of law, as well as the correlation between students’ core literacy and socialist core values, this article proposes the necessity of integrating ideological and political education into English majors, and actively explores effective strategies and approaches in order to provide useful ideas and references for the ideological and political education reform of English majors.

Research on the Integration of the Spiritual Pedigree of Chinese Communists into the Curriculum of “Situation and Policy” in Colleges and Universities

The spiritual pedigree of the Chinese Communists is the concentrated embodiment of the great spirit, an important carrier for the construction of spiritual culture in colleges and universities, and the promotion of the spiritual strength of ideological and political courses. The integration of the spiritual pedigree of Chinese Communists into the curriculum of “situation and policy” should clarify the development context, grasp the core connotation, and link the content appropriately. At the same time, we should highlight the spiritual strength of the Communist Party of China, enhance students’ cultural confidence, and guide them to establish correct values. The practice path of integrating the spiritual pedigree of Chinese Communists into the curriculum of “situation and policy”: tell a good story and let it live; make good use of technology and let technology melt together; innovative ways to broaden the classroom.

Tell Me a Good Story: The Need and Legitimacy of Narrative Apologetics

Tell Me a Good Story: The Need and Legitimacy of Narrative Apologetics

Modern Advertising's Impact on Consumer Emotions

People see all kinds of advertisements everywhere: in shopping malls, in the metro, and on mobile phones. Brands want to introduce themselves through adverts, whether it is a brainwashing presentation or a targeted introduction, to make the audience remember but also to find the brand's target users to draw closer. At the same time, according to the development of technology, advertising is no longer only active on paper. However, it has also begun to stand up and become conscious bodies, from pure introduction to storytelling. Everyone browses a lot of pictures or text every day; how to attract an audience among thousands of adverts and whether the impression is deep or not is the key to good or bad adverts. This study explores the emotional relationship between adverts and consumers in the digital age. Brands and companies should consider how digital adverts can lead consumers to the correct emotional values and ways to tell a good story to the audience.

What Makes adolescents want to read? Examining adolescents’ contemporary print and new media (fiction) leisure reading through mobile ethnography

Drawing on data from a mobile ethnography study of 12 adolescents from one secondary school, this article proposes to examine the everyday digital reading resources and practices of Singapore adolescent youths to better understand the print and new media (fiction) leisure reading habits of adolescents. Mobile ethnography, with its capacity to capture adolescents’ actual reading through images, texts, and video recordings, provides a new way to document and understand the changing reading habits of adolescents. Participants documented their print and digital reading on a smartphone app over four days, followed by a photo-elicitation interview. Findings showed that these adolescents read for pleasure and were self-directed readers who invested time in reading various new media fiction texts such as ebooks, Japanese manga and fanfiction. Practices of new media reading include cross-media consumption, engagement in fandom behaviours, and interest-driven searching for diverse reading materials. Adolescents are motivated to read when the reading experience promises immersive entertainment. A good story, ease of access to interesting content and potential for multiple media engagements encourage adolescents’ volitional reading. Implications for curriculum and future research on adolescent volitional reading are discussed.

Drilling Into Ancient Rock to Learn About Earth’s Past

Geologists are curious to learn what the Earth was like when the planet was young. We want to know about temperature, beaches, soils, climate, rivers, meteorite impacts, and volcanic activity because these factors determined how and where early life could exist. Only the oldest sedimentary rocks have this information, but these are usually covered by younger rocks. Old sedimentary rocks that still “tell a good story” about the history of the Earth are rare. We studied some of these. They are an unimaginable 3.2 billion years old and are found in the Makhonjwa Mountains near South Africa’s border with Eswatini. We had to drill into the Earth to get to them because the surface is covered by forest and grassland. Sedimentary rock layers in these mountains do not lie flat anymore but are vertical, and sometimes even flipped over. To drill through as many layers as possible, we had to drill sideways!