Spreading the Good News: Analyzing Socially Shared Inspirational News Content

Qihao Ji, Arthur A. Raney, Sophie H. Janicke-Bowles, Katherine R. Dale, Mary Beth Oliver, Abigail Reed, Jonmichael Seibert, Arthur A. Raney

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

37 Scopus citations

Abstract

Past research indicates that people often share awe-inspiring news online. However, little is known about the content of those stories. In this study, more broadly defined “inspirational” articles shared through The New York Times website over a 6-month period were analyzed, with the goals of describing the content and identifying characteristics that might predict inspirationality and measures of retransmission. The results provided a snapshot of content found within inspirational news stories; they also revealed that self-transcendent language use predicted the inspirationality of a news story, as well as how long an article appeared on a most shared list.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)872-893
Number of pages22
JournalJournalism and Mass Communication Quarterly
Volume96
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 1 2019

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Communication

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