Animation in Environmental Journalism: Effects on News Perception and Information Seeking

摘要

An experiment with 413 US participants was conducted to examine the role of animation in environmental journalism. Results show that there was no consistent modality effect (live-action vs. animation) on news perception and information-seeking across environmental topics. Specifically, animation was favored in the communication of fracking. On climate change, concern for the issue moderates the modality's effect on news perceptions, information-seeking. The findings contribute to the literature of effective visual environmental communication by incorporating the modality effects perspectives, while also offering practical advice on how to effectively use animation to promote audience trust, news enjoyment, information-seeking with various environmental issues.