The objective of the study was to classify the existing methods of the TV news content selection, and to assess the advantages and shortcomings of each approach. To achieve this goal, the following tasks have been performed: 1) considering the existing approaches to the selection of the TV news content, applied in the media effects studies; 2) summarizing and classifying the approaches used for the selection of the TV news stories for experiments in the media effects studies; 3) analysing the advantages and disadvantages of each technique of the experimental selection of the TV news content. The research was conducted through the use of scientific methods of analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, transition from the abstract to the concrete, and document review. Several criteria were applied to the selection of the studies to be included in the review of methods of the TV news materials selection: 1) only those experimental articles and thesis were selected, in which the TV news was the independent variable, and the reaction of surveyed people was the dependent variable; 2) the articles and theses should include a clear description of the methods of the TV news selection.Results and Conclusions. The TV news content was examined as a basic material for experiments in social communications. Based on the academic publications of the American and European scientists, we elaborated the classification of methods for the media content selection in the media effects studies. Different approaches to the selection of news material were proposed. According to the proposed classification, all methods of the media content selection were divided into the primary methods (pool method) and secondary methods (Self-Assessment Mannequin test; semantic differential method; R. Likert emotion assessment scale; J.B. Haskins scale for the good-bad news assessment). The validity and reliability of these techniques was proved by the studies in the TV news effects.KEYWORDS: media effects; media stimuli; news story; selection method; experiment. Резюме У дослідженні розглянуто новинний контент телебачення як базовий матеріал для експе-риментів у соціальних комунікаціях. За науковими працями американських та європейсь-ких учених запропоновано класифікацію методів відбору контенту засобів масової кому-нікації у контексті дослідницької парадигми медіаефектів. Пропонуються різні підходи до відбору новинного матеріалу. Згідно з наведеною класифікацією, всі методики відбору новинного контенту розділені на первинні (метод пулу) та вторинні (тест Self-Assessment Mannequin, метод семантичного диференціалу, шкала Р. Лікерта для позначення емоцій, шкала Дж. Хаскінса для оцінки позитивності / негативності новин). Валідність і надійність цих методик доведена їх успішним застосуванням у дослідженнях медіавпливів, зокрема у працях із ефектів телевізійних новин. Ключові слова: медіаефект, медіастимул, новинний сюжет, методика відбору, експеримент.Гаврилец Ю.Д., Ризун В.В., Тукаев С.В., Хилько М.Н. Объективизация субъективно-сти: мировой ...

In this study we discuss the impact of negative TV news based on the viewers’ burnout. We conducted 3 (burnout level: unformed, under development, and formed) x 3 (state anxiety, mood, and emotions) within-subject experiment. We measured state anxiety and mood with a questionnaire on a pre-to-post basis to find out changes due to viewing negative TV news. Besides, we employed Facial Actions Coding System to assess emotions during viewing based on facial reactions analysis. Overall, 47 healthy volunteers (19 male and 28 female university students), aged 17 to 23 years old, participated in the study. We found the most significant impact of negative TV news in the group of participants whose burnout level was under development. Exposure to negative TV news elicited state anxiety pre-to-post change only in this group (p > .05). Mood worsened in all burnout groups. Negative TV news reports elicited mainly fear and anger that covered over 75 % of all facial reactions. In addition, contempt and surprise decreased with the development of burnout. However, emotions elicited by negative TV news did not vary greatly between burnout groups. Consequently, among the participants without symptoms of burnout or those with fully formed burnout, we detected weaker impact of negative TV news.

n this study, a scientific interpretation of escape and entertainment TV viewing motives is considered in the view of Uses and Gratifications Theory. More specifically, it is analysed how the TV viewing motives, initially elaborated for general TV use, are important to the TV news consumption. How strong are the motivations to escape and seek for entertainment in TV newscasts? Given that primary goal of TV news viewing is obtaining information about the society and the world, TV news largely perform the instrumental role. However, in digital era, TV news are a combination of hard news (serious newsworthy topics, with analytical approach) and soft news (entertaining news items that rely mainly on attracting viewers’ attention, and relief after watching hard news). After TV viewers return home, there is usually no matter what to watch, but it is important just to relax. Though the amount of soft news is relatively small, it was studied how strong viewers’ motive is to watch an average TV newscast as a means to escape or being entertained. Our study indicates that TV news has to be considered within two motivational patterns elaborated by U&G scholars for general TV use: instrumental and ritualistic viewing. Escape and entertainment motives are indisputable attributes of ritualistic use, whereas informational or surveillance motive leads to instrumental use. Within Uses and Gratifications Theory, the concepts of escapism and entertainment occupy central positions in the row of TV viewing motives. However, they are often considered as a motivation to watch entertainment TV – fictional or reality-based programmes. But specific motivational structure that drives viewers to watch TV news remain largely meagre and divergent. In this study there was analysed the evidence that indicate various extents of strength of escapism and entertainment motives towards TV news viewing. Notwithstanding some criticisms, U&G proved to be an enduring scientific approach. In U&G research, watching TV news is regarded as a process, aimed at obtaining messages about the world and neighbourhood, as well as information necessary for everyday decision making by the viewer and her/his relatives. In recent decades, the infotainment genre or soft news has been becoming more popular, and more and more tabloid TV stations tend to consider that TV news should entertain the viewers not less than to inform, or even more.

The paper considers changes of the EEG parameters while viewing the emotionally accented TV messages depending the emotional burnout formation. We found that the character and degree of EEG changes during the perception of emotional stimuli significantly depend on the characteristics of a particular stimulus and the current level of emotional state of the viewers (emotional burnout, fatigue). The subjects with the phase of resistance of the emotional burnout syndrome at the stage of formation (“Burnout RP under development”) differ significantly from the groups with the unformed and formed Burnout Resistance Phase (“Burnout RP unformed”, “Burnout RP formed”) in the dynamics of changes of spectral power of the EEG subbands during the exposure to the emotional stimuli. The development of burnout is characterized by an increase in State Anxiety and fatigue, the desensitization to the emotionally accented information, an augmentation in social alienation and, eventually, manifests in changes in the brain response to emotional stimuli, which consist in the inhibition of high-frequency EEG components.

This study sets out the results of media effects experiment of two historical documentaries, conducted within joint research project "Broadcasting History in the Transnational Space" by the Vienna University and Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv researchers' team. The main objectives of the study were to explore the impact of Holocaust and Holodomor documentaries on personal traits changing, psychological inclinations, as well as on representations of historical issues. Juergen Grimm's model "Multidimensional-Imparting-of-History" (MIH) was used for assessing imparting history. The method of modelling was the basic method used during the research. It covers empirical indices of humanitarian values, national identity as well as European and Asian identification. Total of 185 student volunteers (1st to 3rd year of studies at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv) were involved in the experiment. Students watched two documentaries about two major historical tragedies of the 20th century: Holocaust (Genocide of Jews) in Europe during 1939-1945 and Holodomor (Great Artificial Famine) in Ukraine during 1932Ukraine during -1933. Before and after being exposed to the documentaries, students filled out a questionnaire that included social-identity, national-identity as well as psychological parts. The main finding of the experiment is the students' significant predilection to compromise and reduce conflictive and aggression traits. Under the impact of both documentaries, we observed the growth of the disposition for transnational and trans-ethnic community-building (Communitas Skills) and general tendency towards cosmopolitan problem-solving and commitment for universal human rights (Political Humanitas).