Public Diplomacy in Prime Time: Exploring the Potential of Entertainment Education in International Public Diplomacy

Abstract

Can stories succeed where traditional forms of diplomacy have faltered? This study examined whether a primetime drama could impact American viewers’ knowledge, attitudes, and behavior with respect to U.S. foreign policy and funding by surveying 173 viewers of an episode of Law & Order: SVU (“Witness”). Additionally, this study sought to uncover which theoretical construct — involvement with a specific character or involvement with the narrative more generally (transportation) — best predicted impact. The fictional character in question was Nardelie, a woman forced to flee the Democratic Republic of the Congo after repeated rape by militias vying for “conflict minerals,” so named because control of these valuable minerals has triggered numerous conflicts. Separate regression analyses suggested a positive relationship between impact of the storyline and both theoretical constructs. However, when both constructs were entered into a single regression, involvement with Nardelie was the stronger predictor of knowledge (e.g., conflict minerals, sexual violence, and asylum issues) and current or future behavior (i.e., discussing global health) while transportation was the stronger predictor of attitudes (i.e., support for aid). This suggests that, while correlated, these constructs do not completely overlap. Implications of these results and the use of entertainment education in public diplomacy are discussed.

A review of the relevant literature will reveal no single, agreed upon definition of public diplomacy. Cowan and Cull (2008) describe public diplomacy as “an international actor’s attempt to advance the ends of policy by engaging with foreign publics” (p. 6). Historically, this was achieved by governments tightly controlling and disseminating messages deliberately constructed to shape their respective images. Critics of this form of public diplomacy have labeled such government-controlled messaging “propaganda.”

But the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, catalyzed an expansion of this narrow, state-based conception of public diplomacy as the key international players and their objectives shifted. “The current struggle against transnational terrorism is a struggle to win hearts and minds…” declared former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense and Harvard University scholar Joseph Nye (2008, p. 108). This new task calls for new tools. The components of “the new public diplomacy” include: listening; advocacy; cultural diplomacy; exchange and international broadcasting (Cull, 2010). Accordingly, this “new public diplomacy” is not confined to sovereign actors, but also allows non-governmental actors to “promote public diplomacy policies and practices of their own” (Cull, 2010, paragraph 3). In fact, Nye (2010) recommended building relationships with civil-society actors in other countries and facilitating networks between non-governmental parties at home and abroad (paragraph 13) in an effort to promote U.S. interests. Why? Because of these entities’ ability, superior to that of sluggish, bureaucratic governments’, to engage in decentralized, flexible, networked communication. Advocates of this new public diplomacy argue that new media and communication technologies have empowered non-state actors and legitimized their role in international relations¹ (Cull, 2010).

The present research examines the diplomatic potential of a media product designed for the purposes of entertainment by Hollywood scriptwriters and producers. “Witness,” an episode of Law & Order: SVU that first aired on March 17, 2010, depicted the ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo via the fictional character of Nardelie. Nardelie was forced to flee the Democratic Republic of the Congo after being repeatedly raped by local militias vying for “conflict minerals,” so named because control of these minerals (necessary for manufacturing products such as cell phones and computers) fuels the ongoing conflict in the Congo.

The primary objective of Law & Order: SVU is not to engage in international public diplomacy. Rather, this program aims to tell the most compelling stories possible. However, the authors of this article submit that when an entertainment program tells a compelling story involving a social issue that captivates viewers’ attention, it can educate its audience. Accordingly, the present research examines whether exposure to a storyline depicting an international issue can serve a diplomatic role by influencing viewers’ knowledge, attitudes, and behavior and increase support for intervention and international funding. Before presenting our research, however, we will provide a brief overview of the related concept of entertainment education, or EE, and the theoretical constructs most commonly associated with a successful EE intervention – involvement with a particular character and involvement with the narrative more generally (known in scholarly circles as “transportation,” (see Green & Brock, 2000; Green & Brock, 2002).

Entertainment Education

Singhal and Rogers (2002) defined entertainment education (EE) as “the intentional placement of educational content in entertainment messages” (p. 117). One of the earliest examples of entertainment education was Simplemente María, a telenovela (Spanish language “soap opera”) broadcast from 1969–1971 in Peru and subsequently aired across Latin America. Still considered one of the most popular telenovelas of all time, this program spurred audience members to embrace sewing and adult literacy education (Singhal, Obregon, & Rogers, 1994; Singhal, Cody, Rogers, & Sabido, 2002). Simplemente María also motivated Mexican writer-director Miguel Sabido to design additional telenovelas for social change. His 1978 telenovela, Acompáñame, was associated with a half a million more Mexican women going to family planning clinics (a 32% increase over the prior year (Slater, 2002, p. 159)) and a 23% increase in sales of over-the-counter contraception such as condoms (Poindexter, 2004, p. 28). In the year following Acompáñame’s airing, Mexico’s birthrate dropped from 3.1% to 2.7% (Poindexter, 2004, p. 28). While other factors may have played a role, population shifts of this magnitude put EE on the map and inspired its practice, particularly in developing contexts (Poindexter, 2004).

Whereas EE approaches convey information via narratives on television shows, radio programs, comic books, and other forms of entertainment, traditional public service campaigns convey information via reports on public service announcements and posters. Two meta-analyses examining 120 public health campaigns that featured public service announcements, posters, and brochures (Snyder & Hamilton, 2002; Derzon & Lipsey, 2002) concluded that, on average, 5% of individuals exposed to these traditional campaigns change their behavior in the expected, positive direction (Noar, 2006).² Those most at risk tend not to be exposed to these campaigns, and bringing the message to them can be difficult and costly. In light of these findings, it is not surprising that in the public health arena, EE has been embraced as a cost-effective means to share information with a mass audience (Brodie, Foehr, Rideout, Baer, Miller, Flournoy, & Altman, 2001; Valente, Murphy, Huang, Greene, Gusek, & Beck, 2007; Bouman, 2004).

Indeed, a growing body of evidence suggests that EE messages conveyed in popular television programming can produce significant change in viewers’ knowledge, attitudes, and behavior (Brodie et al., 2001; Collins, Elliot, Berry, Kanouse & Hunter, 2003; Hether, Huang, Beck, Murphy, & Valente, 2008; Green, Strange & Brock, 2002; Keller & Brown, 2002; Kennedy, O’Leary, Beck, Pollard, & Simpson, 2003; Murphy, Frank, Moran & Woodley, 2011; Sharf & Freimuth; 1993; Sharf, Freimuth, Greenspan, & Plotnick, 1996; Slater, Rouner, & Long, 2006; Valente et al., 2007). Entertainment education also may boast an advantage in terms of longevity. Appel and Richter (2007) suggests that “fictional narratives can have a persistent implicit influence on the way we view the world, and that these effects may last longer than the effects of typical explicit attempts to change beliefs by presenting claims and arguments” (p. 129).

What might explain narratives’ superior impact? Prior research suggests that information delivered by engaging storytelling and associated with characters whom the viewer already “knows” and cares about is more likely to attract viewers’ attention than context-less information, such as the facts delivered by traditional health campaigns (Singhal, Cody, Rogers, & Sabido, 2004; Singhal & Rogers, 1999; Slater & Rouner, 2002; Lang, 2000). Audiences also may harbor less resistance to content from narrative rather than didactic sources (Brown & Walsh-Childers, 2002; Singhal & Rogers, 1994; Slater, 1997; Slater, 2002; Slater & Rouner, 2002). Moyer-Gusé (2008) proposed that the “narrative structure of entertainment-education messages can overcome reactance by diminishing the viewer’s perception that the message is intended to persuade” (p. 415).

Additionally, information conveyed in a narrative format may be processed differently than the same information conveyed in a nonnarrative format. Lang’s (2000) Limited Capacity Model of Mediated Message Processing, as well as other dual-process models (for a review, see Chaiken & Trope, 1999), argues that the brain handles emotional and nonemotional stimuli differently (Epstein & Pacini, 1999). Specifically, research suggests that emotion-eliciting material is more easily encoded, stored, and retrieved (Lang, 2000), and less subject to counterarguing because it is processed peripherally (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986). In fact, in their construct of transportation, Green and Brock (2000) note the early and essential role played by heightened emotions and motivations; viewers become absorbed in the dramatic elements in a narrative largely due to the elements of suspense, romance, conflict, comedy and triumph over tragedy. As Dillard and Peck (2000) point out, narratives that involve a series of emotions have been shown to be particularly gripping and persuasive.

Entertainment education also may trigger systemic, or “second order” change (Singhal, Rao, & Pant, 1996, p. 267). For example, multiple South African communities embraced a method of responding to domestic violence that had been modeled by the EE drama Soul City (Singhal, Usdin, Scheepers, Goldstein, & Japhet, 2004). As depicted on the television show, when neighbors overheard domestic violence, they banged pots and pans in order to bear witness and signal their disapproval (Singhal et al., 2006; Usdin, Singhal, Shongwe, Goldstein, & Shabalala, 2004). In addition to this fictional storyline significantly impacting viewers’ knowledge, attitudes, and sense of self-efficacy, South Africa’s ratification of the Domestic Violence Act was largely attributed to Soul City (Usdin, Scheepers, Goldstein, & Japhet, 2005; Samuels, Mollentz, Olusanya, Claassens, Braehmenr, & Kimmie, 2000; Smith, 2001).

Some government officials have openly recognized the potential of entertainment to support international public diplomacy objectives. For instance, in 2006, the British government charged its national broadcaster, the British Broadcasting Company (BBC), with the tasks of “Sustaining citizenship and civil society; Promoting education; Stimulating creativity; Reflecting the identity of the UK’s nations, regions and communities; Bringing the world to the UK and the UK to the world; and Building digital Britain” (BBC News, 16 March 2006, paragraph 7; emphasis added). The public diplomacy potential of the BBC’s programming – which reaches an estimated 188 million viewers (Preston, Insua, & Ciolek, 2010) – is not lost on the British government. As Lord Carter of Coles asserted in December 2005’s Public Diplomacy Review, “Public diplomacy is arguably not the primary objective [of the BBC], but it is inevitable that in providing an internationally renowned and highly valued service, there will be positive public diplomacy gains for the country associated with that brand” (cited in Wilding, 2010, paragraph 3). This phenomenon was anecdotally observed in a 2009 U.S. diplomatic cable sent from the U.S. embassy in Saudi Arabia to the U.S. Department of State (Booth, 2010). Titled “David Letterman: Agent of Influence,” this cable alleged that satellite broadcasts of popular U.S. television shows, such as Desperate Housewives and The David Letterman Show, have cultivated viewers’ interest in the West and more effectively “persuade Saudi youth to reject violent jihad” (Booth, 2010, paragraph 1) than the US-funded al-Hurra TV news channel.

Supporting this link between exposure to entertainment programming and public diplomacy, Elasmar (2008) found a direct and positive correlation between consumption of U.S. entertainment media and Muslim’s attitudes towards both the United States and the U.S.-led war on terror. But in certain quarters, this phenomenon raises the specter of cultural imperialism (Schiller, 1969). Some argue that the flow of media products from more to less developed nations can have systematic negative effects on indigenous cultures and values. Gooneskara (1987) contends, “in the face of this media invasion, the indigenous cultures of the Third World disintegrate consistently and without resistance” (p. 11). Such cultural imperialist fears persist despite evidence that cross-border television shows produce only modest effects on indigenous populations. A meta-analysis of 27 studies by Elasmar and Hunter (2003) revealed weak, positive correlations between exposure to foreign television (primarily from the U.S. and Canada) and viewers’ knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors about the country featured. In interpreting their results, Elasmar and Hunter (2003) point to the possibility that this low correlation may be due, in part, to unexplained variability among viewers. The current study examines whether some of this unexplained individual level variability may be due to viewers’ ability or inability to identify with a narrative set in a foreign context featuring culturally dissimilar characters. In other words, if it is difficult for a viewer to identify with a fictional foreign character or their plight, is the influence of cross-border entertainment programs diminished?

The present study seeks to address these issues by examining the impact of a storyline depicting a foreign fictional character and culture on domestic U.S. audiences. Can exposure to an episode of Law & Order: SVU that depicts Nardelie, a woman who was forced to flee the Democratic Republic of the Congo after being repeatedly raped by local militias vying for “conflict minerals,” significantly alter the knowledge, attitudes, and behavior of domestic viewers? And, if so, what theoretical mechanisms might account for this shift? Below we review two theoretical mechanisms – involvement with a particular character and involvement with the narrative more generally (also known as transportation) – that have been shown to predict entertainment education effects, and explore their potential to sway public perceptions of international issues.

Involvement with a Particular Character

Successful EE efforts tend to feature characters with whom viewers identify. “According to the elaboration likelihood model, identification increases involvement with messages, which, in turn, increases the elaboration of messages (Petty & Cacioppo, 1984) and their potential persuasive effects. Another explanation for the effects of identification is that it increases the intensity of, and involvement with, the exposure to mediated texts and makes their meaning more memorable” (Cohen, 2001, p. 260). Research has found that character involvement is positively related to increased attention, mental rehearsal of the arguments presented, and modeling of behavior (Sharf & Friemuth, 1993; Sharf et al., 1996; Sood, 2002). This explains why white female viewers of the same age as the fictitious character Nancy in thirtysomething were more strongly moved by her cancer experiences (Sharf & Friemuth, 1993; Sharf et al., 1996) than older or younger viewers, and why young Latinas are particularly influenced by telenovelas’ portrayals of young Latina characters (for other examples of identity-related EE effects see Lee, Salmon, & Witte, 2009; Murphy, Hether, Huang, & Beck, 2006; Papa et al., 2000; Singhal & Rogers, 1999; Sood, 2002; Wilkin, Valente, Murphy, Cody, Huang, & Beck, 2007).

Viewers appear to learn more from models — in this case, fictional television characters — that they identify with, like, feel as if they know, or perceive to be similar to themselves (Bandura, 1977; 1986; 2002; 2004). But scholars disagree on how to define and differentiate between these related constructs. For instance, identification has been conceptualized in different ways by different researchers. Definitions of identification include: a viewer’s perceived similarity to a character (Basil, 1996; Eisenstock, 1984; Liebes & Katz, 1990; Maccoby & Wilson, 1957; Slater & Rouner, 2002); a viewer’s liking of a character (Basil, 1996; Eisenstock, 1984; Liebes & Katz, 1990; Maccoby & Wilson, 1957); a viewer’s desire to be like a character (Basil, 1996; Eisenstock, 1984; Eyal & Rubin, 2003; Giles, 2002; Hoffner, 1996; Liebes & Katz, 1990; Maccoby & Wilson, 1957); the extent to which a viewer relates to a character (Wilkin, Valente, Murphy, Cody, Huang, Beck, Alban, & Bright, 2007); and an emotional and cognitive process whereby one takes the perspective of a character (Cohen, 2001; 2006; Eyal & Rubin, 2003).³

As evidenced by this brief summary of the extant literature, there is at present no universally agreed upon conceptual or operational definition of identification. Consequently, we follow Moyer-Guse’s (2008) lead and use the phrase involvement with a specific character to refer to the overarching category that incorporates the four related constructs of identification, wishful identification (a viewer’s wish to be like the character), similarity, liking, and parasocial interaction.

The extent to which character involvement circumscribes entertainment education effects is important to consider as it may determine EE’s efficacy as a tool of international public diplomacy. For example, if character involvement significantly predicts EE effects, characters who are perceived as dissimilar or strange may produce low or no impact on viewers’ attitudes and beliefs. The present study examines an episode of popular primetime TV drama Law & Order: SVU in which a Congolese woman, Nardelie, explains her illegal immigration to the United States as a means of escaping both repeated rape and the subsequent ostracism she had experienced in her native country. Through her story, viewers learn that rape has been exploited in the Democratic Republic of Congo as a weapon of war in an ongoing struggle for control of “conflict minerals,” or elements such as tin, tungsten, and tantalum that are used in the manufacture of cell phones and computers. Thus, our first research question:

RQ1: To what extent does involvement with the character Nardelie predict shifts in knowledge, attitudes and behavior relevant to supporting U.S. intervention and funding in the Congo?

Involvement with the Narrative More Generally

Various scholars have noted that humans are innate storytellers (Schank & Abelson, 1995; Fisher, 1987). Less attention has been paid to the logical counterpart of this proposition – that humans are innately prepared to be influenced by stories (Green & Brock, 2000). But not all narratives are equally influential to all audience members. Research by Green and Brock (2000) has revealed greater attitude change among readers who were “transported” into the narrative world. To the extent that individuals are absorbed into a story or transported into a narrative world, they may show effects of the story on their real-world beliefs. “We conceptualize transportation into a narrative world as a distinct mental process, an integrative melding of attention, imagery and feelings” (Green & Brock, 2000, p. 701). In Green and Brock’s theoretical framework, when an audience member is transported, he or she becomes part of the narrative he or she is viewing, hearing, or reading. According to these authors, several processes occur when one is fully transported. First, the audience member loses awareness of his or her surroundings — all cognitive facilities are focused entirely on the mediated world. Second, transported viewers feel heightened “emotions and motivations” (Green & Brock, 2000, p. 702). A transported viewer is so completely immersed in the media world that his or her responses to narrative events are strong, as though he or she were actually experiencing those events. Third, when viewers emerge from the transported state, they are often changed as a result of being so deeply engrossed in the narrative. Moyer-Gusé (2008) distinguishes transportation from identification by noting that transportation pertains to absorption within the storyline overall while identification pertains to absorption with a specific character (p. 410).⁴

Green & Brock (2000) propose that transportation can be an important predictor of persuasive effects. They contend that because a person in a transported state is engrossed, having devoted his or her cognitive resources to the events playing out in the narrative, he or she may be less likely to counter-argue or to critically assess the messages in the narrative. Slater and Rouner (2002) similarly note that engagement with narrative storylines in entertainment-education programs can suppress counter-arguing by viewers. Transported individuals are also more likely to view a narrative as similar to an actual experience and, consequently, the lessons of the narrative may hit them harder (Green & Brock, 2000). In a series of experiments where participants were asked to read various stories, Green and Brock (2000) found that an individual’s level of transportation predicted subsequent beliefs consistent with the story’s messages. Green (2004) likewise found that transportation was positively associated with story-related beliefs.

But will the unfamiliar, Congo-related subject matter make it difficult for U.S. viewers to become “transported” into the narrative? If so, will this substantially limit the public diplomacy potential of this and other cross-border EE attempts? This leads us to our second research question:

RQ2: To what extent does transportation or involvement in the storyline more generally predict shifts in knowledge, attitudes and behaviors relevant to supporting U.S. intervention and funding in the Congo?

In addition to testing the potential of entertainment education as a public diplomacy tool, the present research also attempts to contribute to the general entertainment education literature by comparing the relative impact of involvement with a specific character and transportation. Thus our final research question:

RQ3: What is the relative impact of involvement with a specific character and transportation on viewers’ relevant knowledge, attitudes and behaviors?

Cumulatively, answers to these research questions will shed light on entertainment media’s potential as a tool for international public diplomacy. Can an EE strategy alter the knowledge, attitudes, and behavior of viewers in one country, such as the United States, with respect to issues in a remote country, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo?

Methods

This study focuses on a storyline that aired on Law & Order: SVU on March 17, 2010. Law & Order: SVU was the 17th most popular show in primetime in Spring 2010, reaching an estimated audience of 57 million U.S. viewers on a weekly basis. In the episode entitled “Witness,” Detectives Olivia Benson and Elliott Stabler investigate a rape that occurred in an apartment stairwell. The witness to the crime, Nardelie, is from the Democratic Republic of Congo and a rape victim herself. Nardelie is initially unwilling to testify against the defendant for fear of being deported to her country where sexual violence and war over conflict minerals still prevail. During the investigation, the initial rape victim dies from a MRSA staph infection that she contracted in the hospital. The story concludes with Nardelie testifying against the rapist and receiving permission to stay in the United States. The Assistant District Attorney of New York, Alexandra Cabot, resigns her position and joins the International Criminal Court to prosecute crimes of sexual violence in areas of conflict.

Sample

This sample was gathered by a private research company, Frank N. Magid & Associates, from their registered panel of respondents. This non-nationally representative panel has approximately 22,000 participants, each of whom is compensated to participate in four or fewer Internet-based surveys yearly (M. Curran, personal communication, August 23, 2010). Although an attempt was made to collect both pretest and posttest data from the same respondents in order to measure change at the individual level, attempts to retest a sufficient number of pretest respondents after the show aired were unsuccessful. Consequently, only post-test data will be presented.

Post-test data were collected after the March 17, 2010, airing of “Witness.” Data collection was open from March 18–March 31, 2010. Magid panel members were notified of this research opportunity via an email sent March 18, 2010, and a reminder email sent March 23, 2010. Only respondents who self-identified as regular viewers of Law & Order: SVU (operationalized as watching at least two episodes per month) and who had seen the episode “Witness” were invited to participate in the survey. One hundred and eighty-seven (187) unique respondents completed the post-test survey. After the data were cleaned to remove any respondents who were missing large amounts of data, there remained 173 cases.

It is difficult to calculate an accurate response rate because it is unknown whether all recipients actually received the email solicitations. The research firm Magid estimates that at least 20% of email addresses are no longer valid, reducing the sample to 17,600 at most. With the increased use of spam filters over the past few years, a considerable portion of the pool may never have seen the email solicitations. Moreover, there is the issue of whether an email solicitation that arrives in an individual’s inbox but is not opened should be counted as a refusal. The largest loss of respondents, however, was due to the fact that they had not seen the specific episode “Witness.” Regardless, we fully acknowledge that this sample of Law & Order: SVU viewers is not representative of the general population and suffers from self-selection bias.

Sample Characteristics

The analytic sample was primarily Caucasian/white (80%), with an age range of 24 to 76 years old and mean age of 47 years old. Sixty-one percent (61%) of the sample was female, and 30% reported having prior experience, either directly or indirectly, with sexual violence. Approximately one-third (34%) of the sample had some college/trade school experience and a similar amount identified as college graduates (33%).

Measures

The outcome variables included: respondents’ knowledge about sexual violence and specific health issues addressed in the storyline; attitudes towards global health; and behavior related to global health. Due to space constraints, only the survey items that were used in the current analyses are described in detail below.

Knowledge

Using a 10-point Likert scale with response options that ranged from (one) “I know nothing” to (ten) “I know a great deal,” knowledge was measured through respondents’ self-reports of how much they knew about the following three topics addressed in the storyline: 1) immigration and asylum; 2) sexual violence; and 3) conflict minerals. A knowledge index was also created that summed respondents’ scores on the three previous items.

Attitudes

Seven questions assessed respondents’ attitudes towards global health and funding global health programs. The first two questions used a 10-point Likert scale where (one) was “not at all” and (ten) was “extremely important” in order to discover how important respondents considered health care in the U.S., global health, and four other decoy variables. The decoy variables measured attitudes towards other current geo-political events; however, since they were primarily intended to disguise the true intent of the study, they were not included in the analysis.

Respondents used similar 10-point scales to indicate how important they thought it was to prevent and treat the global spread of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. Principal components factor analysis was conducted with these items and they all loaded strongly on one factor with high reliability (α=.95), resulting in the creation of a single dependent variable.

Using a six-point scale where (one) was “strongly disagree” and (six) was “strongly agree,” respondents also indicated their agreement with the following statements: 1) “Global health issues currently impact my life”; 2) “Global health issues currently impact other Americans” and 3) “Global health issues will impact me at some point during my lifetime.” Principal components factor analysis showed that these three items also loaded strongly onto a single factor with high reliability (α=.87). Therefore, responses to these three items were averaged into a single dependent variable measuring the extent to which global health issues impact them and other Americans.

Using a five-point scale where (one) = strongly disagree and (five) = strongly agree, respondents were also asked to indicate their agreement with a series of five statements related to global health funding specifically on funding by the United States (U.S.) to the United Nations (U.N.). These statements included items such as “By aiding the U.N., the U.S. government can impact global health” and “I support U.S. government aid to the U.N. for global health.” These variables were analyzed with principal components factor analysis and they all loaded strongly onto a single factor with high reliability (α=.90); therefore, a scale variable was created reflecting respondents’ support for U.S. and U.N. aid for global health.

Lastly, using a 10-point scale where (one) was “has absolutely no impact on global health” and (ten) was “can have an impact on global health,” respondents were asked to indicate the extent to which they thought seven various organizations and entities could impact global health. Principal components factor analysis yielded two factors, each with high reliability. The first factor, consisting of five items, (α=.92), reflected the perceived impact of outside organizations (i.e., those outside the Congo) such as the U.S. government, the U.N., and non-governmental organizations like the Gates Foundation on global health issues. A second factor (α=.93), consisting of two items, was created that reflected respondents’ support for the notion that negative processes, such as war and terrorism, could impact global health.

Behavior and Behavioral Intent

Behavior was measured with two sets of questions. First, using a five-point Likert scale with response options ranging from (one) “never” to (five) “more than once a week,” respondents were asked, “How frequently do you discuss (in spoken or written form) the following issues?” “U.S. health care” and “global health” were among the six items listed. Next, using a 10-point Likert scale with response options that ranged from (one) “not at all likely” to (ten) “extremely likely,” respondents were asked “In the next year, how likely is it that you will speak or write to someone about each of the following topics?” The same topics as those provided in the previous question, e.g., “U.S. health care,” “global health,” and four others, were listed.

Involvement and Transportation

Similar to Moyer-Gusé (2008) and Murphy et al. (2011), we combined liking, perceived similarity, wishful identification, and parasocial interaction into a single index of involvement with Nardelie, the Congolese main character (α=.87). This index consisted of a four- to 40-point scale, with a mean of 19.66 and a standard deviation of 9.87. Transportation was measured with items from Green and Brock’s (2000) transportation scale. Ten of the original 13 items were summed to create a transportation index (α=.94). Three original items that required reverse-coding were omitted from the final scale because, when initial factor analysis was conducted, these three items consistently did not load in the same direction as the other items, even when they were reverse-coded. The transportation index was a 10- to 70-point scale (the sum of 10 seven-point Likert scales), with a mean of 39.94 and a standard deviation of 15.45.

Results

Analysis Strategy

Preliminary analyses were conducted with the demographic variables in Table 1. All except two variables – having prior experience with sexual violence and being female – were found to be unrelated to the outcome variables and therefore were not included in subsequent analyses. Next, a series of sequential multiple linear regression models examined the individual associations between identification and transportation with the individual and summary outcome variables (assessing story-related knowledge, attitudes and behavior). Finally, full models were tested that included both predictor variables. All models included the two control variables mentioned above: sexual violence experience and gender.

Table 1.

Characteristics of the sample

	%	N
Total		173
Experience with sexual violence	30%	52
Female	61%	106
Ethnicity/race
Caucasian/White	80%	138
African American/Black	5%	9
Asian-American/Pacific Islander	4%	7
Hispanic/Latino	2%	3
Marital status
Single	20%	35
Married/co-living with partner	56%	97
Divorced/separated	14%	24
Highest education level
Completed high school or less	15%	26
Some college/trade school	34%	59
College graduate	33%	57
Graduate school	10%	17
Annual household income
Less than $19,999	11%	19
Between $20,000 and $39,999	24%	42
Between $40,000 and $59,999	23%	40
Between $60,000 and $79,999	11%	19
Between $50,000 and $99,999	12%	21
Between $100,000 or more	12%	21

Research question 1

Multiple regression analyses showed that identification with Nardelie was strongly associated with most outcome variables. As the first column in Table 2 indicates, involvement with this character strongly predicted respondents’ self-reported knowledge of immigration and asylum (β=.42, p<.01), sexual violence (β=.42, p<.01), and conflict minerals (β=.46, p<.01) — three issues that were central to Nardelie’s storyline. Among the control variables, experience with sexual violence was significantly associated with knowledge of sexual violence and conflict minerals, while being female was not significantly associated with any of the knowledge outcomes.

Table 2.

Standardized betas indicating the association of involvement and transportation with knowledge

	Involvement	Transportation	Full
Immigration and asylum
Sexual violence	−.03	−.02	−.04
Female	−.08	−.11	−.09
Involvement	.42**		.34**
Transportation		.37**	.12
Adjusted R2	.16	.12	.17
Sexual violence
Sexual violence	.23**	.24**	.22**
Female	.05	.03	.04
Involvement	.42**		.34**
Transportation		.36**	.11
Adjusted R2	.25	.21	.25
Conflict minerals
Sexual violence	.17*	.18*	.16*
Female	−.11	−.13+	−.11
Involvement	.46**		.44**
Transportation		.35**	.03
Adjusted R2	.26	.18	.26

⁺p<.10

^*p<.05

^**p<.01

As the first column in Table 3 shows, involvement was also strongly associated with all of the attitude items. Of the control variables, experience with sexual violence was significantly associated with one outcome variable only: those with sexual violence experience were more likely to agree that war and terrorism can impact global health issues. Being female was significantly associated with five attitudes. Women were more likely to agree that 1) global health is important; 2) the prevention and treatment of the global spread of disease is important; 3) global health issues impact them and other Americans; 4) they support U.S. and U.N. aid for global health; and 5) outside organizations can impact global health issues.

Table 3.

Standardized betas indicating the association of involvement and transportation with attitudes

	Involvement	Transportation	Full
Importance of U.S. health care
Sexual violence	−.13+	−.14+	−.15+
Female	.07	.04	.05
Involvement	.38**		.19+
Transportation		.39**	.25*
Adjusted R2	.13	.14	.15
Importance of global health
Sexual violence	−.01	.00	−.01
Female	.24**	.21	.23**
Involvement	.38**		.32**
Transportation		.33**	.10
Adjusted R2	.19	.15	.19
Importance of the prevention & treatment of global spread of disease
Sexual violence	.01	−.00	−.01
Female	.18*	.15*	.16*
Involvement	.37**		.16
Transportation		.41**	.29**
Adjusted R2	.16	.19	.19
Global health issues impact me & other Americans
Sexual violence	.05	.04	.03
Female	.20**	.17*	.18*
Involvement	.35**		.19+
Transportation		.36**	.22*
Adjusted R2	.15	.16	.17
Support US & U.N. aid for global health
Sexual violence	.14+	.12	.11
Female	.18*	.15*	.15*
Involvement	.33**		.07
Transportation		.41**	.36**
Adjusted R2	.16	.22	.21
Outside organizations can impact global health issues
Sexual violence	.03	.02	.01
Female	.20**	.17*	.18*
Involvement	.38**		.18+
Transportation		.41**	.27*
Adjusted R2	.18	.20	.20
War & terrorism can impact global health issues
Sexual violence	.15*	.15*	.14+
Female	.12+	.10	.11
Involvement	.39**		.27*
Transportation		.36**	.17
Adjusted R2	.20	.18	.20

⁺p<.10

^*p<.05

^**p<.01

The first column in Table 4 shows that involvement was also strongly associated with three of the four behavior-related outcomes: future discussion of U.S. health care (β=.34, p<.01), current discussion of global health (β=.30, p<.01), and future discussion of global health (β=.44, p<.01). Only current discussion of U.S. health care was not significantly associated with involvement. Of the control variables, only respondents with experience with sexual violence were more likely to currently discuss U.S. health care.

Table 4.

Standardized betas indicating the association of involvement and transportation with behavior

	Involvement	Transportation	Full
Currently discuss U.S. health care
Sexual violence	.19*	.20*	.19*
Female	−.11	−.11	−.10
Involvement	.08		.16
Transportation		.01	−.11
Adjusted R2	.04	.03	.04
Will discuss U.S. health care
Sexual violence	.08	.08	.07
Female	.02	−.01	.00
Involvement	.34**		.14
Transportation		.37**	.27*
Adjusted R2	.12	.14	.14
Currently discuss global health
Sexual violence	.11	.12	.11
Female	.00	−.01	.00
Involvement	.30**		.30*
Transportation		.22**	.00
Adjusted R2	.10	.06	.09
Will discuss global health
Sexual violence	.07	.07	.06
Female	.10	.07	.09
Involvement	.44**		.30**
Transportation		.42**	.20+
Adjusted R2	.21	.18	.22

⁺p<.10

^*p<.05

^**p<.01

Three summary variables of knowledge, attitudes, and behavioral intent were created and regressed on involvement. As the first column in Table 5 shows, involvement was strongly associated with all three of these variables: the knowledge index (β=.50, p<.01), attitude index (β=.50, p<.01), and behavior index (β=.41, p<.01). Experience with sexual violence was significantly associated with knowledge, while being female was significantly associated with attitudes toward global health.

Table 5.

Summary indices indicating the association of involvement and transportation with knowledge, attitudes, and behavior

	Involvement	Transportation	Full
Knowledge Index
Sexual violence	.14*	.15*	.13+
Female	−.06	−.09	−.07
Involvement	.50**		.43**
Transportation		.42**	.10
Adjusted R2	.28	.21	.28
Attitude Index
Sexual violence	.02	.02	.01
Female	.23**	.19**	.20**
Involvement	.50**		.28**
Transportation		.51**	.30**
Adjusted R2	.30	.30	.33
Behavior Index
Sexual violence	.12	.12	.11
Female	.05	.02	.03
Involvement	.41**		.28**
Transportation		.39**	.19+
Adjusted R2	.19	.17	.20

⁺p<.10

^*p<.05

^**p<.01

Research question 2

Similar to involvement, multiple regression analyses were conducted that regressed outcome variables on transportation, while controlling for the effects of experience with sexual violence and being female. As the second column in Table 2 shows, transportation was significantly associated with all of the knowledge items, although the associations were slightly weaker than with involvement. Transportation by the storyline predicted respondents’ self-reported knowledge of immigration and asylum (β=.37, p<.01), sexual violence (β=.36, p<.01), and conflict minerals (β=.35, p<.01). Of the control variables, experience with sexual violence predicted knowledge of sexual violence and conflict minerals.

The second column of Table 3 indicates that transportation was also significantly associated with all of the attitude items. Of the control variables, experience with sexual violence was significantly associated with agreeing that war and terrorism can impact global health issues (β=.15, p<.05), while being female was significantly associated with agreeing that the prevention and treatment of global health are important (β=.15, p<.05), global health issues impact them and other Americans (β=.17, p<.05), they support U.S. and U.N. aid for global health (β=.15, p<.05), and outside organizations can impact global health (β=.17, p<.05).

Table 4 shows that, like involvement, transportation was also significantly associated with three of the four behavior variables: future discussion of U.S. health care (β=.37, p<.01), current discussion of global health (β=.22, p<.01), and future discussion of global health (β=.42, p<.01). Of the control variables, only experience with sexual violence was significantly associated with current discussion of U.S. health care (β=.20, p<.05).

Not surprisingly, the second column of Table 5 shows that transportation was significantly associated with all of the summary variables: the knowledge index (β=.42, p<.01), attitude index (β=.51, p<.01), and behavior index (β=.39, p<.01). Of the control variables, experience with sexual violence was significantly associated with knowledge (β=.15, p<.05), while being female was significantly associated with attitudes toward global health (β=.19, p<.01).

Research question 3

The sequential regression models that separately tested involvement and transportation showed that both constructs were associated with the outcome variables, and the pattern of the associations was consistently strong and positive across knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. Full regression models were also tested that included both involvement and transportation in a single model, while simultaneously controlling for prior experience with sexual violence and gender. These models were then used to predict the outcome variables.

As the third column in Table 2 shows, while transportation was significantly associated with all of the knowledge outcomes in the separate sequential models, in the full models only involvement was consistently associated with knowledge. In fact, one item reflecting knowledge about conflict minerals indicates that the standardized beta for transportation dropped from β=.35, p<.01 in the sequential model to β=.03, NS in the full model, while the standardized beta for involvement stayed fairly consistent at β=.46, p<.01 in the sequential model and β=.44, p<.01 in the full model. For the control variables, as with the individual models, experience with sexual violence was significantly associated with knowledge of sexual violence and conflict minerals, while being female was not significantly associated with any of the knowledge outcomes.

As the third column in Table 3 suggests, the full models examining attitudes revealed a different pattern of results. While involvement was significantly associated with all of the attitude outcomes in the sequential models, in the full models involvement was significantly associated with only with two of the seven outcomes: 1) the importance of global health (β=.32, p<.01) and 2) the perception that war and terrorism could impact global health (β=.27, p<.05). In contrast, transportation remained significantly associated with five of the seven attitude variables. Of the control variables, being female was significantly associated with five of the attitude variables, while experience with sexual violence was not significantly associated with any attitudes (at the level of p<.05).

The associations between involvement and transportation and behaviors are less robust for both of these constructs. As the third column of Table 4 shows, in the full models, involvement remained significantly associated with two outcomes: 1) currently discussing global health (β=.30, p<.05) and 2) future discussion of global health (β=.30, p<.01). Transportation, on the other hand, was significantly associated with one behavior: future discussion of U.S. health care (β=.27, p<.05).

In the full models that examined the associations among involvement, transportation, and the summary outcome variables of overall story-related knowledge, attitudes, and behavior, involvement was more strongly associated with these outcomes than transportation. As Table 5 shows, involvement with the character of Nardelie was significantly associated with all three of the summary outcome variables: knowledge, (β=.43, p<.01); attitudes, (β=.28, p<.01); and behavioral intent, (β=.28, p<.01). Transportation was significantly associated with only the attitude summary variable (β=.30, p<.01) and marginally associated with behavior (β=.19, p<.10).

Discussion

As noted previously, the “new public diplomacy” is not confined to sovereign states but also includes non-governmental actors who can “promote public diplomacy policies and practices of their own” (Cull, 2010, paragraph 3). The present research examined the potential for a televised entertainment program to influence how viewers in one country perceive another country, its people, and its problems. This particular episode of Law and Order: SVU, “Witness,” shared information about the ongoing atrocities in the Congo involving conflict minerals through the fictional character of Nardelie, who had left the Congo after being repeatedly raped by factions warring over conflict minerals. Moreover, the present research compared the ability of two theoretical mechanisms previously suggested to underlie the power of narratives – involvement with a specific character (measured by combining liking, perceived similarity, wishful identification, and parasocial interaction into a single construct of “involvement with Nardelie”) and involvement with the narrative more generally (measured using Green and Brock’s (2000) construct of transportation) – to predict viewers’ subsequent knowledge, attitudes, and current or future behavior vis-à-vis the Democratic Republic of Congo, global health, and international intervention and funding (see also Murphy, Frank, Moran & Woodley, 2011, for a review).

Background Factors Associated with Congo-related Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviors

Prior to testing these constructs of interest, we examined whether any demographic variables (including but not limited to age, race, income, gender, and education level) interacted with the impact of the storyline. Regression analysis revealed that females generally rated the importance of global health and its funding higher than their male counterparts. Regression analysis also showed that having personally experienced sexual violence predicted a stronger impact of Nardelie’s storyline on certain outcome measures. After seeing the episode, viewers who reported having experienced sexual violence, either directly or indirectly, had higher levels of knowledge regarding sexual violence and conflict minerals, were more likely to feel that war and terrorism can impact global health issues, and were more likely to currently discuss U.S. health care. These findings support Slater and Rouner’s (2002) argument that, while personal or issue involvement is not necessary for persuasion to occur, it can increase attention and either increase or attenuate the persuasive effects of a narrative.

Knowledge

The present study assessed knowledge gains in three areas: immigration and asylum; sexual violence; and “conflict minerals.” Of the two theoretical constructs under consideration, involvement with Nardelie was more predictive of having an increased level of storyline-related knowledge. In fact, involvement with Nardelie was significantly related to all three knowledge items both in separate regressions and in the full models, even after controlling for prior experience with sexual violence, gender, and transportation.

Transportation, on the other hand, while significant to all three knowledge items prior to adding character involvement into the equations, dropped in significance in the full models. We suspect that this drop is due to multicollinearity between involvement and transportation. As has been noted elsewhere, although these constructs can be highly correlated, they do not completely overlap and still independently predict different outcomes (see also, Murphy et al., 2011, for a review) which argues for keeping both constructs.

Attitudes

In contrast, transportation was more likely to predict viewers’ storyline-related attitudes. These attitudes refer to viewers’ feelings towards the following: the importance of healthcare in the U.S. and globally; the importance of treatment to prevent the global spread of disease; the personal impact of global health issues; the impact of outside organizations and war on global health issues; and the degree of support for U.S. and U.N. aid for global health. Relatively high ratings on both Green and Brock’s (2002) construct of transportation and involvement with Nardelie predicted elevated importance ratings on each of the seven attitudes measures when examined separately. However, in the full models, transportation remained a significant predictor in five of the seven models, whereas involvement with Nardelie was significant in only two models. We suspect that, as argued by Green (2006), transportation into a narrative may reduce counter-arguing and, as a consequence, increase the likelihood that viewers will process the information conveyed in a less critical manner. Thus, higher levels of transportation should be related to more storyline consistent attitudes.

Behavior and Behavioral Intent

When examined separately, both involvement with Nardelie and level of transportation predicted viewers’ intent to discuss: global health care currently; global health care in the future; and U.S. health care in the future. In the full model, however, involvement predicted only discussing global health both currently and in the future. Transportation into the narrative predicted future discussions of U.S. and global healthcare. This result both supports Green and Brock (2000; 2002) and furthers these scholars’ work by demonstrating a relationship between transportation and current behavior and behavioral intent (whereas other studies (e.g., Green, 2004) have found only a relationship between transportation and beliefs and attitudes).

How do these findings advance our understanding of entertainment education effects produced by involvement with a specific character and transportation into the narrative more generally? First, our analyses suggest that, although these constructs may be correlated, they do not entirely overlap. Rather, our results hint that transportation into the narrative may be more likely to sway attitudes, whereas involvement with a specific character may be superior with respect to knowledge acquisition. Of course, this is speculative and this particular pattern may not hold up with other narratives and audiences. Second, because the current study involves regular viewers’ reactions to an episode of one of their favorite prime time programs, it may provide accurate insights into the processes that fans or more invested individuals undergo when watching a narrative. This speaks to Slater and Rouner’s (2002) call for further investigations into the effects of ongoing relationships that audience members form with beloved characters in their preferred programs, as opposed to the reactions to novel characters and narratives employed in many lab-based studies. Third, this work provides empirical support to claims that entertainment programming can play a role in international diplomacy by shaping viewers’ attitudes and actions with respect to a foreign country.

Limitations and Implications for Public Diplomacy

While this work represents another step forward in the understanding of entertainment education effects and its impact in terms of public diplomacy, there are limitations that must be acknowledged. Because we were concerned about potential survey fatigue, we did not include certain items that could have added further depth and insight to the study. For example, we were unable to include other measures of character involvement, such as those recommended by Cohen (2001). Also, the present study examined impacts from a single episode of an entertainment program rather than an entire serial (see Singhal & Rogers, 1994; 1999). Only regular viewers of Law & Order: SVU were invited to participate in this study. Non-regular viewers who saw the same storyline may have showed a different pattern of effects due to lower levels of involvement and transportation. On a related note, we did not control for variables such as strength of feelings about the show Law & Order: SVU, or prior knowledge about the Congo. And although the sample was initially recruited using a random procedure by the research firm, there was self-selection in both who viewed the episode and who agreed to participate in the survey. It may be the case that individuals who were more involved in the storyline were more likely to participate in the survey (although our data show a wide distribution on the transportation and involvement with Nardelie variables). Additionally, although an attempt was made to collect both pretest and posttest data of the same respondents in order to measure change at the individual level, attempts to retest a sufficient number of pretest respondents after the show aired were unsuccessful. Moreover, since involvement and transportation could only be measured after the storyline aired, we cannot shed any light on the ongoing debate regarding the causal and temporal relationships between identification and transportation (see Murphy et al., 2011, for a review of this debate). Finally, we measured only behavioral intent vis-à-vis support for institutions and funding priorities and goals for communication. While intent has been found to be highly predictive of future behavior (Armitage & Conner, 2001; Sutton, 1998; Ajzen, 1991), it is still an imperfect proxy.

Thus, future research that uses a pre-test post-test design, controls for prior knowledge, and measures behavior as opposed to behavioral intent would provide a superior test of a narrative’s influence. Moreover, the present research examined the impact of a single episode. As Slater and Rouner (2002) note, additional research is needed to understand the effects of serial programming. Furthermore, this study focused on the impact of a specific storyline about a specific country, namely the Democratic Republic of Congo. Obviously, we must use caution in extrapolation as these results may heavily depend on both the country and the topic (e.g., rape and conflict minerals). For instance, it may be much harder to change viewers’ opinions regarding an issue or area of the world they are more familiar with. Finally, we agree with Moyer-Gusé’s (2008) suggestion that further research is needed to fully evaluate the ways in which cognitive processes (particularly narrative involvement and identification with characters) produce entertainment education effects.

Despite these potential shortcomings, our findings do suggest that entertainment media can play a part in shaping viewers’ perceptions of foreign countries, their people and their problems. We hope that these constructs’ (e.g., involvement with a specific character and transportation into a narrative more generally) potential to sway audiences with respect to public policy and diplomacy-related issues serve as both encouragement and as a warning. Careless manipulation of these constructs could result in increased support for aid to a country or region in the short term, at the cost of long-term stigma (i.e., the perception that the Congo is lawless and hopeless). Overuse of such storylines could also lead viewers to experience desensitization to the plight of others, or even provoke the opposite of the desired effect, such as decreased public support for humanitarian aid.

Moreover, these findings may shed some light on why studies examining the impact of imported or cross-border television have revealed only weak, positive correlations between exposure to foreign television on domestic viewers’ knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and behaviors (see a meta-analysis of 27 studies by Elasmar and Hunter, 2003, for a review). It may be the case that exposure to foreign programming is too blunt a measure to accurately predict influence. Our results suggest that knowing an individual’s level of involvement with both the characters depicted and with the narrative more generally may provide a better predictor of impact.

These results also have direct relevance to public diplomacy. Elasmar (2008) showed a direct and positive correlation between consumption of U.S. entertainment media and Muslim’s attitudes toward the United States and their support for the U.S. led war on terror. Similarly, U.S. diplomatic cables from Saudi Arabia observed that consumption of U.S. entertainment media fueled locals’ appreciation of Western culture (Booth, 2010). These results could be used to further sensitize media producers to the power and potential unintended consequences of their fictional depictions.

Obviously, these results could also be used in order to craft negative or inaccurate characterizations of other cultures. One way to mitigate negative outcomes might be to pair compelling storylines with an interactive component. This approach has already been appropriated in certain public diplomacy circles. According to Nye (2010), “the evolution of public diplomacy from one-way communications to a two-way dialogue treats publics as co-creators of meaning and communication” (paragraph 14). Providing multimedia spaces⁵ for viewers to “connect, create, collaborate, and circulate” (Felt, Vartabedian, Literat, & Mehta, 2012) – in other words, to actively engage with material and one another – may reduce the impact of inaccurate portrayals and propaganda. Voluntary fact-checkers may help audiences to distinguish between truth and fiction, and compel producers to renounce unsubstantiated claims, as in bloggers’ successful 2004 challenge to CBS News/Dan Rather (Gillmor, 2006, p. xiv). Individuals’ engagement with accurate, productive storylines is also valuable, as participation enriches learning outcomes (Jenkins, Purushotma, Clinton, Weigel, & Robison, 2006) and interpersonal communication regarding a narrative magnifies entertainment education effects (Chatterjee, Bhanot, Frank, Murphy, & Power, 2009). Finally, in addition to the careful construction and prudent use of narratives for public diplomacy purposes, it is essential to reserve a seat at the storytelling table for the citizens themselves, so that they may tell their own tales.