ABSTRACT

What role do presentation features play for the processing of TV news? Are they appropriate means to attract attention and to emotionally involve the audience, thus signaling relevance and supporting deeper understanding? Or are attentiongrabbing features inappropriate means that signal entertainment, support a superfi - cial attitude toward the content and hinder deeper processing and understanding? The present contribution deals with the emotional processing of TV news and the role of presentation modes and editing. The chapter starts by outlining the importance of TV news. Then, the basic concept of emotion is presented and it is shown that media input may stimulate emotions and ongoing appraisal processes. The following remarks discuss different aspects of emotional responses to TV news. Although content and editing is confounded and presentation features develop impact only in the context of a story, the arguments try to focus on separate effects. First, presentation features within editing effects are considered. Second, the aspect of framing is considered, thus focusing on content aspects. Finally, the interaction of content and presentation is described. The conclusion highlights the importance of emotions for a better understanding of TV news.