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An analysis of accident, crime, and health news reports sought to determine how story drama is increased by using quantitative data depicting threatening trends. These reports often used frequency data to characterize worsening trends and rate data to illustrate improving trends. Increasing magnitudes signified worsening trends, and decreasing magnitudes signified improving trends. Worsening trends and frequency data depictions were more likely to be accompanied by specific exemplars. Television stories showing worsening trends or those including frequency data were longer than those reporting improving trends or rate data. Newspaper story length was unrelated to trend direction or data type.
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Charles R. Berger (2001) studied this question.
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