Whether it’s a natural disaster, political upheaval or major public incident, news coverage can quickly and efficiently convey important information to a broad audience. It can also play a significant role in how we view the world around us and our views about certain events, including war.
Several studies suggest that news media can shape our perceptions about the world by how it covers them. For example, one study found that when the economy is covered negatively it creates a pessimistic outlook in people which persists even after the economic situation improves. Similarly, a study on cancer showed that when some types of cancer are overrepresented in the news (like brain and male reproductive cancers) people think they are far more common than they actually are.
In a similar vein, when news is framed in a way that emphasizes negative aspects of a conflict it can contribute to a pervasive sense of pessimism and lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy – if people believe the future will be worse, they might not invest, for example, and this could slow economic growth. The same can be said for how the media frames positive news.
As such, it’s important to be transparent about how you decide what to cover and why. Your audience takes note of what you do and don’t cover, so be clear about your process and give them a chance to understand how you arrived at the decisions that you did. This can be done by inserting explanations of your choices in places where users are consuming your news content, like in a pull-out box alongside the story; a note above the story; within on-air story text; or in a newsletter blurb.