Media studies, Vol. 5 No. 10, 2014.
Original scientific paper
The Efficient Correction of Negative Information: What is the Real Power of a Rebuttal?
Damir Ljubotina
; University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Croatia
Jozo Dubravac
orcid.org/0000-0002-2451-8977
; Croatian Health Insurance Fund, Croatia
Abstract
The goal of this paper is to evaluate the actual effectiveness of corrections of negative information, as well as to determine the form and content of a rebuttal that can achieve the best countereffect against initially published negative information. The authors conduct a factorial experiment (N=270) in which we manipulate several aspects of the rebuttal. We alter the author of the rebuttal and the content. At the level of the author we look at: a) a rebuttal made by the person that the negative information refers to; b) a rebuttal by a neutral person; c) a rebuttal by the author of the negative information. At the level of the content of the rebuttal we look at: a) the systematic correction of the negative information; b) the systematic correction of the negative information followed by positive information. We find that the rebuttal is most effective when done by the author of the initial negative information and least effective when done by the person who is the subject of the negative information. Only denying the negative
information is similarly less effective than accompanying it with some new positive information about the person in question.
Keywords
correction of negative information; rebuttal; social perception; kinds of correction; media
Hrčak ID:
135681
URI
Publication date:
15.12.2014.
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