Tijdschrift voor Communicatiewetenschap - Volume 46, Issue 2, 2018

Beste lezer,

Samenvatting

In dit onderzoek wordt de media-aandacht voor nepnieuws van mei 2016 tot april 2017 geanalyseerd vanuit het perspectief van Vastermans (2005) theorie over mediahypes. Het onderzoek wijst uit dat de geïntensiveerde nieuwsproductie na Donald Trumps verkiezing kenmerken heeft van een mediahype. De publiciteit bestaat vooral uit reflecties op het nieuws en het aantal verwijzingen naar voorbeelden van nepnieuws is beperkt.

Samenvatting

Door de toevloed aan gratis games met in-game aankopen en maandelijkse abonnees wordt het steeds belangrijker om spelers bij een bepaalde game te houden. Deze interviewstudie dient als een eerste verkenning van stop- of cessatiegedrag bij jonge spelers van online digitale games. Hieruit blijkt dat niet-ingeloste startmotivaties, negatieve ervaringen tijdens het spelen, en vrienden of familie ervoor zorgen dat gamers stoppen met spelen.

Samenvatting

Deze studie onderzocht of een humoristisch narratief over een tegendraadse aap kinderen kan aanzetten tot tandenpoetsen. Het boekje werd driemaal voorgelezen aan 37 kleuters. Na het voorlezen hadden de kleuters een positievere houding ten aanzien van tandenpoetsen. Parasociale interactie met het hoofdpersonage speelde een cruciale rol in het narratieve overtuigingsproces.

Samenvatting

Deze studie verkent de samenhang tussen het eigendom van journalistieke start-ups en het ontwerp van hun verdienmodel. Met een meervoudige casestudiemethode zijn elementen van de businessmodellen van vijf Europese journalistieke start-ups (De Correspondent, Médor, The Conversation, Watson en El Español) met uiteenlopende soorten eigendom geanalyseerd. Dit resulteerde in een categorisering van drie typen start-ups.

The media coverage of fake news, a hype?

This article provides insight into the intensified media attention for fake news in Dutch newspaper articles between May 2016 and April 2017 from the perspective of Vasterman’s (2005) theory of media hypes. It was found that speculations about the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States as a result of the spread of fake news caused a news wave. This news wave consists mainly of meta news and contains few news articles about the disclosure of fake news. The news production is mainly driven by meta news and by news about qualifications of the media as ‘fake news’. This article calls for further research into the media attention for fake news in other media than newspapers in the Netherlands as well as in other countries.

Keywords: fake news, media hype, news wave, key event, hoax

Ownership and business models of European news media

This study explores how the identity of shareholders affects the business model design of European news media start-ups. A comparative case study method was used to compare the business models of five entrant firms with diverging types of ownership. News media start-ups in five European countries – De Correspondent, Médor, El Español, Watson and The Conversation – were selected as cases of nonprofit, investor, employee and customer ownership. An association was found between these owner identities and particular business models designs. Different owners have diverging missions and profit destinations. This has consequences for which customer segment and value proposition is deemed most suitable. This paper puts forward a categorisation of three ideal types of start-ups with a particular ownership, customer segment and value proposition.

Keywords: ownership, start-ups, entrepreneurial journalism, business models

An exploration of cessation behavior among adolescent and young adult players of online digital games

Digital game consumption has recently shifted towards more digital distribution, instigating new business models like monthly subscriptions and free-to-play models. These rather depend on the player’s continuation desire than on a single purchase. A clear understanding of why players continue or cease to play has therefore become of vital importance. While cessation behavior of digital games has hardly been studied, a very recent study categorizes several mechanisms of game disengagement into a model. The current study builds on this by comparing this model within another sample and genre, and studies player cessation at both session (temporal) and game (permanent) level. In-depth interviews (N = 15) with adolescent and young adult players show that (1) unfulfilled starting motivations (for example no more challenge), (2) negative experiences (saturation, frustration, physiological exhaustion), (3) contextual elements (parents’ rules, following friends), and (4) game-related elements (availability of other games, no more new content, bugs) affect player cessation.

Keywords: digital games, player cessation, multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA), retention, churn

Narrative persuasion and children: how a virtual friend encourages tooth brushing

Previous research underscores the power of stories in persuading target audiences towards healthy lifestyles but not much is known about their effects among children. An empirical study with repeated measures investigated the effects of reading a funny Johnny Joker narrative, in which a negative role model tries out various behaviors related to tooth brushing, on attitudes and intentions towards tooth brushing of 37 toddlers. Narrative processes of wishful identification, media enjoyment and parasocial interaction were measured at t1. Analyses showed that toddlers’ attitudes and intentions became more positive after hearing the story three times. Parasocial interaction (and not media enjoyment and wishful identification) significantly predicted attitudes towards tooth brushing. Findings suggest that the narrative with the negative role model may have persuaded children towards healthy lifestyles because the character felt like a (naughty) friend that they liked but did not want to resemble.

Keywords: narrative persuasion, children, dental care, modelling, parasocial interaction