Entertainment News encompasses celebrity scandals, movie releases and accomplishments, music awards ceremonies and backstage event access as well as celebrity portraits. While some may perceive Entertainment News simply as gossipy tabloid stories, its impact can have lasting ripple effects that shape popular culture while sparking conversations and creating employment opportunities.
At IPR Associate Stephanie Edgerly and her collaborators recently conducted two experimental studies that looked at how audiences view media content in two environments: comedian-hosted talk shows that cover political headlines, and punditry that offers commentary on current events have blurred the boundaries between news and entertainment. To test this assumption they manipulated headline angles (political, satirical or liberal confrontational), headline source (The New York Times, Mother Jones, Drudge Report or The Daily Show), then asked participants to rate each headline on a news-entertainment scale scale rating scale before participants could categorize each headline according to its news-entertainment scale characterization scale rating scale scale.
Researchers discovered that while participants attempted to classify news stories objectively, its subject and narrative style affected how participants classified them. Furthermore, political leanings of individuals viewing media content had an effect on how they judged its “news-ness.” This phenomenon was especially noticeable with conservative and liberal confrontational headlines.
