This essay makes a case for considering attitudinal inoculation as a way to better understand information processing and attitudinal responses of news viewers—processes that are likely happening regardless of intent to inoculate. 

Josh Compton

Inoculation theory is an established strategy of conferring resistance to influence. Decades of research—in laboratory and in applied settings, such as public relations, marketing and political campaigns—support the efficacy of presenting weakened versions of counterattitudinal arguments to trigger a process of resistance to persuasion that works much like medical inoculation. Research into how attitudinal inoculation reacts (and acts with) broadcast television and radio, however, is limited. This essay advances a case for future inoculation broadcast news research, demonstrating how the theory may shed light on information processing and attitudinal responses of viewers. The essay first surveys extant findings of inoculation scholarship into how inoculation functions against (and with) audio and visual messages, including the limited research on inoculation in the context of television news. The essay then turns to future directions for inoculation-based news scholarship, including the idea that the conventional point-counterpoint format of some news content may, under certain conditions, have an inoculative effect on news viewers. 

Compton, J. (2011, April). The inoculated news consumer: Attitudinal inoculation theory, information processing, and attitudes [paper presentation]. Broadcast Education Association, Las Vegas, NV, United States. *Winner, 2nd Place Debut Paper Award: News Division.