| In recent years,with the deepening of human transformation of the world,modern risks are gradually increasing.The world is entering an era of “risk society” characterized by global warming and environmental pollution.Modern risk has created a "common world" from which no one can escape.In China,a series of environmental problems,including excessive consumption of natural resources,excessive discharge of pollutants,air pollution and water pollution,have become major livelihood issues affecting public life.Due to the uncertainty and complexity of risk itself,it is difficult for the public to have a clear understanding of it.Therefore,as one of the main channels for the public to understand and recognize climate change,the role of the media has become increasingly important.Among all the environmental risks,one of the most visible and concrete environmental risks is those related to anthropogenic or technological hazards,which is what Giddens called "humanization" risk.Unlike natural disasters,anthropogenic hazards are usually caused by human actions,negligence,or errors and usually occur in or close to human settlements.Though anthropogenic hazards can start rapidly and cause a large number of deaths immediately,it is possible to protect those who are at risk and minimize losses if information is provided promptly and accurately.Thus,in these extreme scenarios,how to effectively communicate risks to the communities who are actually at risk and others who are concerned about similar risk events becomes a significant question.In this study,media framing effect,risk perception,information attitude and individualenvironmental values are combined as the main predictor variables.This study attempted to examine the effect of thematic and episodic framings on environmental risk perception and public and private engagement with the risk issue.Another purpose was to investigate the underlying mechanisms through which such an impact might occur.So as to provide the media and related organizations with effective persuasive communication strategies and news framing selection under the risk situation.Firstly,two experimental groups of information,including thematic framing and eposidic framing,were designed by means of control experiment.A total of 250 high school students and college students completed the experiment.During the process,researchers randomly distributed different text materials,and participants were asked to complete the pre-test,then read the experimental information which were designed as news reports and then finish the rest questionnaire.Then the data of the effective samples were statistically analyzed.To make up for the deficiency of the control experiment method,further understand the participants' environmental risk perception and environmental behavior motivation,and propose targeted strategies based on this,this study then selected 10 students from the college students and high school students participating in the questionnaire survey for semi-structured interviews.Results of this study showed that the thematic framing was more effective than the episodic framing in promoting positive message attitude,risk perception,and private-sphere engagement with the risk issue.Therefore,to some extent,changing the presentation and framework strategy of risk issues can effectively improve the individual's risk perception and willingness to participate in public and private activities,so as to effectively cope with various risk situations.However,the indirect effect of message framing on behavioral consequences was mediated by message attitude and risk perception.In addition,message framings and individuals' environmental concern could jointly affect environmental norms,which further predicted behavioral consequences,such as public support for actions and private-sphere engagement. |
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