Melodramatic animation, presence and sympathy for crime victims in news: An experiment with adolescents in Hong Kong

Abstract

This study examined the effects of melodramatic animation on adolescents’ perception of news and investigated whether this relationship is mediated by presence. The findings suggest that the use of melodramatic animation in the news has no influence on presence among adolescents, while presence influences adolescents’ sympathy of the victim in a crime news report. It indicates that although presence is an important factor in influencing viewers’ news judgement, the use of melodramatic animation in the news has no influence on presence among adolescents, whereas previous studies showed that the use of melodramatic animation in certain genres of news did evoke a sense of presence among young adults. This finding contributes to the literature by showing that demographic factors such as age might also affect an audiences’ news media experience. The ethical issues and practical implications are discussed in the article.