Building bridges, filling gaps : toward an integrative interdisciplinary and mixed method approach for future audience research in relation to the mediation of distant suffering

Based on extensive literature research and 11 expert interviews with academics familiar with the field of audience studies and mediation of distant suffering, this article provides a metadiscussion of the different paradigms and methodologies that can be used for further empirical audience research. It is argued that the “middle-way” paradigms such as critical realism, grounded theory, and pragmatism can productively serve as the basis for a common epistemic language in interdisciplinary research. A mixed-methods approach may serve well for a broad and holistic study of the audience. It is further argued that future empirical research of media users in relation to distant suffering could benefit from an interdisciplinary, mixed-methods approach

Close, but not close enough? Audience’s reactions to domesticated distant suffering in international news coverage

The interest in audience responses to mediated distant suffering has been growing in the last decade. Earlier research about the mediation of distant suffering was often morally or theoretically based, or textually informed and recent empirical research has often focused on how the theories and text–based studies resonate with empirical research of the audience. Earlier text–based research has found that journalists domesticate news about distant events to bring such events closer by and thus make them more relevant and appealing. Four types to domesticate news about distant suffering were found; emotional domestication, aid–driven domestication, familiarizing the unfamiliar, and “what are the stakes”. These domestication strategies aim to establish a link between the distant event and the national or local context of the viewer to bring distant events closer to home and to invite the audience to care. Knowledge about the actual audience’s reactions towards domesticated news is lacking. Therefore, central to this study is whether, and how domestication strategies on the production side of the news, are recognized and if these, or other domesticating strategies are employed by the audience to be caring and morally engaged towards the distant victims. In order to study this we conducted ten focus groups (N=51) in January and February 2016, where we showed a news item about the earthquake in Nepal which happened nine months before. The empirical analysis is informed by concepts from the fields of moral and social psychology. For one, according to social psychological traditions, differentiation is made between people’s cognitive (rational) and affective (emotional) reactions towards their social environment. In addition, and more specifically, we used the concepts empathy and sympathy, defined in the field of moral– and social psychology to structurally analyze people’s reaction towards the mediated distant suffering. We also used the social psychologically informed concept of ‘denial’ to study people’s less caring reactions towards the mediated suffering. Based on the empirical results, we propose a two–flow model of domestication, consisting of first–level domestication on the production side by journalists, and second–level domestication where the audience themselves uses strategies of domestication to make sense of distant suffering. In addition, not all domestication strategies were equally, or equally successfully employed by the audience for a better understanding of– or moral engagement towards, the suffering

Who cares for the suffering other? A survey-based study into reactions toward images of distant suffering

A growing number of scholars have empirically engaged with audience reactions toward mediated distant suffering, albeit mainly on a small, qualitative scale. By conducting quantitative research, this study contributes to the knowledge about people's reactions toward distant suffering on a greater scale, representative of a Western audience. Following a critical realist approach, a survey was developed and several independent constructs were found by doing an exploratory factor analysis which represents people's engagement with distant suffering. We also found four clusters based on a k-means cluster analysis that portrays typical ways of responding to distant suffering. These clusters have been controlled for people's background, indicators of age, gender, education and people's donation behavior, media use, and news interests

'Bring in the audience!' Exploring an interdisciplinary approach to investigating audience reactions to mediated distant suffering

Scholarly work on audience reactions to mediated distant suffering tends to focus on the moral, ethical and/or emotional aspects involved (Hoijer 2001; Chouliaraki 2006; Scott 2014) while there is also a bias in foregrounding negative reactions such as denial, skepticism or indifference (Moeller 1999; Seu 2010). Hence, more complex and qualified aspects of audience reception risk staying under-explored in future scholarly work. This article acknowledges the complex nature and identifies a broad range of aspects (psychological, cultural, sociological,...) that can influence people's attitude towards distant societies and suffering. The objective is to explore different processes and aspects that can be integrated in research on audience reactions to images of distant suffering, from different disciplines within social sciences. Cultural anthropology and sociology of new media are briefly discussed in this regard while social psychology is looked in more closely. An interdisciplinary theoretical basis is quintessential in understanding the audience and its complex relation to distant suffering. In this respect, the presented article responds to the call for more empirical and theoretical audience research in the field of mediated suffering by taking the first step towards interdisciplinary and multi-methodological research (Joye 2013; Ong 2014; Orgad and Seu 2014)

Watching disaster news online and offline : audiences experiencing news about far-away disasters in a postbroadcast society

In a postbroadcast society with both online and offline news media widely available, there are many ways for an audience to (actively) consume news about distant suffering. This focus group study looks into the combined use of broadcast media (television) and a postbroadcast platform (Facebook) for watching disaster news. It is considered that the interactive possibilities offered online to watch and experience the news, combined with watching news on television, could possibly help in fostering a closer relation between a Western audience and the distant suffering. Informed by concepts from social and moral psychology, the findings show not only that personal narratives on social media have the potential to incite a more personal connection between the audience and the distant sufferer but also that this potential was not to be overestimated

Watching distant suffering on the news

Today there is a wide variety of news genres, news sources and ways of watching the news for media users, both on- and offline. In addition, contemporary media outlets are more inviting and encouraging to (inter)act with audiences than ever before. This study is interested into how this plethora of options for (actively) watching and consuming the news resonates with the audience’s views towards and reactions to images of distant suffering. Previous audience research on distant suffering tends to focus either on television audience, or on Internet users (cf. Von Engelhardt & Jansz 2014; Kyriakidou 2015; Scott 2014). This study aims to look into the combined use of both television and internet by audiences in Flanders, the Northern Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. For this purpose, twelve focus groups (N=72) are currently being conducted with a wide variety of people from Flanders who were asked about their use of television and internet for news consumption in relation to their (mediated) experience of distant suffering. Consequently, respondents were interviewed about their thoughts on images of distant suffering, both on- and offline and how they assess the many options for (public) (inter)action with these images (and if so, how do they interact?). The first result of this study is a grounded analysis, informed by concepts from social- and moral psychology (cf. Loewenstein & Small 2007; Haidt 2001; Ross & Nisbett 1991; Trope & Liberman 2010) that reflects on how the experience of distance and the use of increasingly interactive media can play a role in people’s everyday moral and ethical considerations towards distant suffering

Spectators of distant suffering : towards an interdisciplinary approach for empirical inquiry: results of expert interviews

This paper presents the first results of an on-going research project to investigate possibilities for an interdisciplinary and multi-methodological approach to study audiences in the face of mediated distant suffering. Several steps have already been taken to ascertain viewers’ reactions to images of distant suffering (Höijer 2004; Seu 2010; Kyriakidou 2011; Scott 2014). So far, most empirical inquiries have been undertaken in different disciplinary fields and although each contribution is valuable, the accumulating body of empirical knowledge still lacks coherence or structure. In our view, there is need for a more structured interdisciplinary and holistic understanding of audience reactions to images of distant suffering. This paper contributes to this discussion by drawing on interviews with different experts in both academic and practical areas of expertise. Academically from the fields of sociology, social psychology, ethics, cultural anthropology, communication science, political science and philosophy of science. Other expert interviews are held with those working in practical fields; functionaries of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), journalists and policy experts. The main objective of this project is to disentangle major methodological, epistemological and ontological differences and similarities amongst the different fields of research and practice. Secondly, this study will further deliberate on the advantages and disadvantages of an interdisciplinary and multi-methodological approach for empirical inquiries into audience reactions to distant suffering