Back to Search Start Over

The Effects of Photographs and Their Size on Reading and Recall of News Stories.

Authors :
Baxter, William S.
Publication Year :
1978

Abstract

To determine whether readers read and recall news stories better when they are accompanied by photographs and whether photograph size affects reading and recalling, three versions of the front page of a newspaper were produced. Each version of the front page contained a news story and a related photograph which had been altered to constitute one of three experimental conditions: a large photograph condition, a small photograph condition, and a no photograph condition. In intercept interviews, 150 people were shown one of the three versions and then asked a number of questions about their reading and recall of the story. The findings suggest that not only did the use of a photograph help set the reading agenda by making the reader more aware of the news story, but the use of a large photograph seemed to be associated with a greater recall of facts in the story, picture caption, and headline. This suggests that news photographs, particularly large ones, complement rather than compete with the stories they accompany. (FL)

Details

Language :
English
Database :
ERIC
Notes :
Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism (61st, Seattle, Washington, August 13-16, 1978)
Publication Type :
Conference
Accession number :
ED159722
Document Type :
Speeches/Meeting Papers