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This study examines the impact of individuals' engagement in campaign-related conversation on their evaluations of anti-tobacco campaign messages and the moderating role of the smoking status of conversation participants in this process. Using nationally representative survey data related to youth's reception of anti-tobacco campaigns, we found that engagement in conversation was positively related to more positive evaluation of campaign messages and, perhaps more notably, that the smoking status of conversation participant moderated the relationship. More specifically, the positive impact of conversation on campaign evaluation was found only with non-smokers and smokers with quitting intentions, but not with smokers without quitting intentions. We discuss implications of these effects for health campaigns and campaign evaluation research, noting the need to further address the role of social networks. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We attempt here to address a dilemma faced in recent investigation of science and health communication effects: the difficulty of assessing exposure impact in situations beyond the laboratory. In order to investigate the effects of TV news exposure on perceptions in the case of a recent science communication project funded by the National Science Foundation, we employed multilevel modeling to predict beliefs about science. This move allowed us to combine information about TV Designated Market Areas with responses from a national Internet-based survey, and permitted a model that included both market-level and individual-level variables. Results indicate both main effects and interaction effects. Presence of relevant science stories in a TV market, for example, positively predicted subsequent beliefs about the general accessibility of science among audience members in that market, even after controlling for individual-level variables. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local television news professionals face audience declines and a rapidly changing information environment. Faced with such circumstances, many have suggested that sensational and entertaining fare might offer a way to bolster viewership. Our data from a national survey of local TV news viewers in the United States (n = 2,728) suggests that view might be incomplete. While a variety of beliefs about TV news - including those related to how exciting or entertaining the news is - predict general attitude toward TV news viewing, the most important predictor of such attitude actually was the extent to which a person found programming to be informative. This pattern has important implications for TV news professionals and belies some prominent ideas about the need to chase audiences with dramatic and entertaining fare despite the typical sacrifice of substance that accompanies such a move. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]