When compared to a non-narrative news report a journalistic narrative about a shocking news event causes readers to identify more strongly with eyewitnesses, write Kobie van Krieken, Hans Hoeken and José Sanders of Radboud University. The study provides empirical evidence for the claim that journalistic narratives can cause readers to experience distant news events as mediated witnesses.

The article was published as an online first -publication of the journal Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly. The abstract is public and available here.