Effects of Exemplars, Affinity and Affect on Reactions to Presidential Election Stories

ABSTRACT

Affective reaction is a little researched area in political news. This study examined three factors that might generate affective responses in addition to the candidates themselves: the use of exemplars in television stories, the valence of story content and the affinity of audience members toward candidates. A within subject experiment was conducted. Results indicated that candidates and valence had main effects on affective responses, whereas exemplars and affinity did not. Exemplification affected perceived believability of stories, but not perceived informativeness and professionalism. Implications were discussed.