Comments on Climate: Does Reader Response Disrupt the Reception of Environmental Journalism Stories?

• In Event: Environmental Journalism: Coverage, Reader Response, and Mediators

Abstract

Stories about climate change garner passionate comments from readers, ranging from acclaim to invective. This randomized experiment (N = 363) tested whether user comments that support or contradict a news story have an effect on message reception. Additionally, it assessed how message reception was influenced when commenters used anecdotal evidence versus empirical evidence. Findings show that participants exposed to empirical comments were more skeptical about climate change than those exposed to anecdotal comments. Especially for participants with lower need for cognition, anecdotal comments led to more certainty about climate change than did empirical comments. Political ideology was also found to be an important moderator of effects. Taken together, these findings indicate that, in the context of climate change communication, comments from users can influence whether a story is perceived as credible and can also disrupt an article’s intended message, particularly if comments relay personal experience or anecdotes.

Authors

• Amanda Hinnant, U of Missouri - Columbia

• Roma Subramanian, U of Missouri

• Rachel Young, U of Iowa