Showing papers by "Mark Boukes published in 2022"

A Health Crisis in the Age of Misinformation: How Social Media and Mass Media Influenced Misperceptions about COVID-19 and Compliance Behavior

Abstract: ABSTRACT The media are important information disseminators in society. Particularly in uncertain times, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, citizens are very “media dependent.” The way in which people are informed about the coronavirus heavily depends on the type of media they use. Especially on social media, the share of misinformation is considerable, which might impact the way in which people comply with preventive measures. Our study investigates how media use affects misperceptions about the coronavirus and whether this influences important behavioral determinants as well as compliance behavior itself. The results of a unique 5-wave panel survey (N = 1,741) conducted between April 2020 and October 2020 show that the use of mass media reduces misperceptions. The same was found for Twitter users, whereas Facebook and Instagram users have more misperceptions about the coronavirus. Misperceptions negatively influence the perceived severity, susceptibility and efficacy of preventive measures taken by governments, which may ultimately result in decreased compliance. Our findings underline the important role of media consumption and misperceptions in shaping citizens’ beliefs and behavior regarding COVID-19. They re-emphasize the importance of mass media, such as newspapers, television broadcasts or reliable news websites, to inform the public about current affairs. They also imply that platform media might be more heterogeneous in their effects than mass media.

Strategy framing in the international arena: A cross-national comparative content analysis on the China-US trade conflict coverage

Abstract: Strategy framing is usually studied in the context of news coverage about domestic Western politics. This study expands its application to news reports on the China-US trade war—an inter-state conflict including a democratic and one-party dominant system—thereby adding an international dimension to the study of strategy framing. Through a manual content analysis of news coverage from China, the US, Singapore, and Ireland (from January 2013 to January 2020; n = 1872), we investigate whether media independence, conflict involvement, and crisis phases influence the employment of the issue framing and strategy framing. For democratic countries, the more involved they are in the conflict, the more prominent strategy framing was in their coverage of the trade conflict; the inverse was observed for one-party dominant systems. Strategy framing that considers countries as contenders is more prevalent than the sub-frame that focuses on individual politicians. The presence of national-versus-personal level strategy framing was more balanced for directly involved countries than indirectly involved countries since news from directly involved countries accords relatively more space to politicians’ personal strategy.

Fighting lies with facts or humor: Comparing the effectiveness of satirical and regular fact-checks in response to misinformation and disinformation

Abstract: ABSTRACT This study tested the effectiveness of fact-check format (regular vs. satirical) to refute different types of false information. Specifically, we conducted a pre-registered online survey experiment (N = 849) that compared the effects of regular fact-checkers and satirist refutations in response to mis- and disinformation about crime rates. The findings illustrated that both fact-checking formats – factual and satirical – were equally effective in lowering issue agreement and perceived credibility in response to false information. Instead of a backfire effect, moreover, the regular fact-check was particularly effective among people who agreed with the fact-check information; for satirical fact-checking, the effect was found across-the-board. Both formats were ineffective in decreasing affective polarization; it rather increased polarization under specific conditions (satire; agreeing with the fact-check).

The “Humoralist” as Journalistic Jammer: Zondag met Lubach and the Discursive Construction of Investigative Comedy

Abstract: ABSTRACT This study contributes to ongoing discussions on the societal role of satire as a platform for public debate. To this end, we analysed the metajournalistic discourse surrounding the Dutch television news satire show Zondag met Lubach to assess how it has been received and discussed in the Dutch media landscape. Through an analysis of 64 media appearances (2014–2020) with the host and staff members of the show, we zoom in on how discursive exchanges between Zondag met Lubach and media professionals reflect and shape understandings of the journalistic. Thereby, we distinguish three phases of identity construction for the show. Our findings reveal how Zondag met Lubach entered the Dutch media landscape as a comedic non-journalistic outsider, but has gradually become legitimated as a quasi-insider to the journalistic field, embodying the nuanced role of investigative comedy. We conclude by discussing how the concept of investigative comedy elicits reflection on the epistemic authority of novel incantations of journalistic storytelling, and how it contributes to the expansion of conventional assumptions among satirists and media professionals about what journalism can or should be.

Does social media keep me alarmed? The effects of expectations surrounding social media attributes and exposure to messages of social (in)stability on substitutive social media news use

Abstract: abstract Social media news is pervasively replacing traditional news outlets in people’s news diets. From an active-audience perspective, this study employed a factorial preregistered experiment with a pretest and mediators to examine how (1) low versus high expectations about social media’s potential to obtain information in an efficient way and (2) exposure to messages that trigger perceptions of social (in)stability influence Chinese young adults’ intentions to substitute social media for other news sources. This study found that participants who believed that social media as a news source could reduce information costs were more willing to substitute social media for other news sources and that participants who were primed with messages of social instability were less willing to do so. The two effects were mediated separately through reliance on different social media attributes: proximal cues and recommendation systems. Arguably, both attributes can contribute to reducing perceived information costs. Exposure to messages of social (in)stability also moderates the effect between expectations regarding attributes and reliance on recommendation systems and has implications for Schudson’s “monitorial citizen” model in the social media age.

Importance of plaque volume and composition for the prediction of myocardial ischaemia using sequential coronary computed tomography angiography/positron emission tomography imaging

Abstract: Abstract Aims Coronary atherosclerosis with a large necrotic core has been postulated to reduce the vasodilatory capacity of vascular tissue. In the present analysis, we explored whether total plaque volume and necrotic core volume on coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) are independently associated with myocardial ischaemia on positron emission tomography (PET). Methods and results From a registry of symptomatic patients with suspected coronary artery disease and clinically indicated CCTA with sequential [15O]H2O PET myocardial perfusion imaging, we quantitatively measured diameter stenosis, total and compositional plaque volumes on CCTA. Primary endpoint was myocardial ischaemia on PET, defined as an absolute stress myocardial blood flow ≤2.4 mL/g/min in ≥1 segment. Multivariable prediction models for myocardial ischaemia were consecutively created using logistic regression analysis (stenosis model: diameter stenosis ≥50%; plaque volume model: +total plaque volume; plaque composition model: +necrotic core volume). A total of 493 patients (mean age 63 ± 8 years, 54% men) underwent sequential CCTA/PET imaging. In 153 (31%) patients, myocardial ischaemia was detected on PET. Diameter stenosis ≥50% (P < 0.001) and necrotic core volume (P = 0.029) were independently associated with myocardial ischaemia, while total plaque volume showed borderline significance (P = 0.052). The plaque composition model (χ2 = 169) provided incremental value for the prediction of ischaemia when compared with the stenosis model (χ2 = 138, P < 0.001) and plaque volume model (χ2 = 164, P = 0.021). Conclusion The volume of necrotic core on CCTA independently and incrementally predicts myocardial ischaemia on PET, beyond diameter stenosis alone.

Satirizing the Clothing Industry on YouTube: How Political Satire and User Comments Jointly Shape Behavioral Intentions

Abstract: ABSTRACT Recently, scholars have started to investigate how the valence of user comments presented alongside online videos influences viewers’ experiences of and responses to those videos. The present experiment adds to this literature by investigating the role of user comments that accompany an online political satire video in particular. Moreover, it advances our knowledge of the effect of comments by investigating firstly how user comments shape viewers’ experiences of political satire and, secondly, how these experiences subsequently influence viewers’ behavioral intentions. The results show that the valence of comments influences viewers’ behavioral intentions and that this effect is mediated by viewers’ subjective knowledge gain and their eudaimonic entertainment experiences in response to the political satire video. Although the valence of comments also affects political satire viewers’ hedonic entertainment experiences, these specific entertainment experiences do not impact viewers’ behavioral intentions. These results show that comments do not only shape viewers’ experiences as they are watching political satire online, but they also have consequences for what viewers intent to do offline.