Robert J. Lewis

Michigan State University

MORALITY AND NEWS MEDIA

MORALITY AND NEWS MEDIA

• Why is the same news story enjoyable for some, and abhorrent for others?• Why do some stories create heated controversy? (e.g., gay marriage)

• Moral intuitions govern perceptions of news as good or bad.

MORAL FOUNDATIONS THEORY

Moral Foundation Hypothesis

1. Harm/care

2. Fairness/reciprocity

3. Ingroup/loyalty

4. Authority/respect

5. Purity/sanctity

(Haidt & Graham, in press, SJR)

(Compassion, Peace)

(Equality, Justice)

(Patriotism, Solidarity)

(Obedience, Duty)

(Chastity, Wholesomeness)

Liberals

Conservatives

NEWS REPORTS AS NARRATIVES

• Altheide describes news as a morality play

• Zillmann describes news as nonfiction theatre

MODEL OF INTUITIVE MORALITY AND EXEMPLARS (MIME)

• A broad model that incorporates MFT with exemplification theory to explain how moral intuition influences reactions to media.

• Media producers create news reports to have a narrative structure.

• Moral values determine reactions to these stories.

• Viewers want to see justice served.

• News-media producers base stories on universal and culturally derived notions of justice.

MORALITY MODERATES REACTIONS TO NEWS

• Political affiliation determines whether outcomes befalling political figures are perceived as just (Zillmann & Knobloch, 2001).

• Individuals’ justice and care orientations affect responses to controversial news stories (Lind, 1996).

TESTING THE MIME

• Two recent studies test the influence of moral intuitions identified in the MIME.

• Lewis et al. (2011) showed that fairness and loyalty intuitions predicted reactions to news of the Lockerbie bomber’s release.

• More recently, loyalty and purity intuitions predicted reactions to news of Osama Bin Laden assassination.

PARTING THOUGHTS …

• As with other media, news audiences act as tireless moral monitors.

• MFT’s moral intuitions are central to this monitoring process.

• The moral intuitions help to determine whether news is perceived as “good news” versus “bad news.”

• Macro-level implications?

• Do the news-media affect moral values, selective exposure, and subsequently media content?

Automatic/ControlledAppraisal

 

 

 

 

Selective Exposure to liked content

Production of content affirming salient intuitions and exemplars

a

 

Exposure to media content featuring salient intuitions/exemplars

   

Intuition/ Exemplar Salience

 

 

 

THE END

•Thank you!