Browsing by Author "Puente, Soledad"

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    Competing Frames and Melodrama: The Effects of Facebook Posts on Policy Preferences about COVID-19
    (2021) Valenzuela Leighton, Sebastián Andrés; Bachmann Cáceres, Ingrid Andrea; Mujica, Constanza; Grassau, Daniela; Labarca, Claudia; Halpern, Daniel; Puente, Soledad
    The tension between health and economic considerations regarding COVID-19 has resulted in a framing contest, in which proponents and adversaries of strong containment measures hold oppositional frames about the pandemic. This study examines the effects of competing news frames on social media users' policy preferences and the moderation of framing effects played by melodramatic news treatment. Results from a pre-registered online survey experiment in Chile (N = 518) show that participants exposed to Facebook posts with an economic frame were significantly less supportive of measures that restrict mobility (e.g., quarantines) than participants in the control group. Contrary to expectations, exposure to a public health frame also reduced support for stay-at-home orders, and the presence of melodramatic features had no significant impact on users' preferences. Other variables, however, did alter these framing effects, such as fear of COVID-19 and frequency of social media news use. These findings paint a rather complex picture of framing effects during the pandemic in a digital media environment.
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    What "Emergency Sources" Expect From Journalists: Applying the Hierarchy of Influences Model to Disaster News Coverage
    (2021) Grassau, Daniela; Valenzuela, Sebastian; Puente, Soledad
    This study analyzes what "emergency sources" (authorities, emergency managers, and experts) expect from journalists during a disaster, using a mixed-method approach with six focus groups and a survey of 166 official Chilean sources. Based on the first three levels of the hierarchy of influences model, we explore how they perceive journalists' roles and performance when covering disasters. The results suggest that emergency sources' evaluations, while affected by a combination of individual, routine, and organizational variables, are mostly shaped by sources' direct and mediated experience with journalists. Thus, a more fluid relationship between journalists and emergency sources, as well as more communication experience by sources, could lead to a better understanding between both groups, which, ultimately, may lead to delivering more accurate and timely information.