News stories about food safety at restaurants in Florida typically employ illustrative exemplars (examples) that describe
violations discovered by state regulators. Previous research indicates that vivid exemplars can alter the public's perceived health risks.
This study further explored whether or not exemplars, when presented through a reporter's personal testimony, affect participants'
perceptions or behaviors. Through an experiment, participants (N = 286) were randomly exposed to one of two conditions: (a) a news story
featuring exemplars without personal testimony and (b) a news story featuring exemplars with personal testimony from a reporter.
Participants were asked to rate perceived risks and likely behavior. Data showed significant differences between conditions and
participants were clearly impacted by the exemplars presented, rating the perceived risks as high and noting a likely change in their
behavior. Results are discussed in terms of practical implications for reporters, state regulators, public relations professionals and
restaurateurs. / A Thesis submitted to the School of Communication in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
degree of Master of Arts. / Spring Semester 2016. / April 8, 2016. / Exemplification Theory, Food Safety Risks, Personal Reporter Testimony, Public Relations, Restaurant Inspection
Reports / Includes bibliographical references. / Patrick Merle, Professor Directing Thesis; Jay Rayburn, Committee Member; Jaejin Lee, Committee
Member; , .
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_360427 |
| Contributors | Ray, Elizabeth Cate (authoraut), Merle, Patrick F. (professor directing thesis), Rayburn, Jay D. (committee member), Lee, Jaejin (committee member), Florida State University (degree granting institution), College of Communication and Information (degree granting college), School of Communication (degree granting department) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource (47 pages), computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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