People are always drawn to sensationalism.
Most analysts and critics agree that the presentation of an article or its presentation on the first page determines whether or not the article will have an emotional impact on the citizens who encounter it. What, therefore, determines that emotional impact? Emotional appeals, in reality, do not correspond with the frequency of their occurrence. For example, if an animal attack (e.g., “A dog bites a man, putting the man’s life in danger”) occurs once every few years or once a day, it will be of interest. Another example is that articles about food safety (e.g., Fukushima contaminated water discharge 2023) will garner enormous attention regardless of how frequently people are exposed to them. Most individuals believe that this curiosity represents universal human psychology (Davis and McLeod, 2023b).
Why sensationalized news stories are damaging to people
However, I believe there is a limit to how much ’emotional effect’ the audience (people who read this piece) can bear. Let me present an experiment to back up this claim: a Dutch study published in the journal Communication Research in June. A study of participants viewing dramatic TV news stories discovered that people were only interested in tales with restricted emotions rather than those with vast information and emotions. According to the findings of this investigation, appreciating a tale decreases as it becomes too ’emotionally charged’ (Olson, 2008).
The most popular articles, as well as the findings of eye-tracking experiments, were fairly sad. Participants were somewhat more likely to select tales with negative content, such as corruption, irritation, and hypocrisy, than ones with neutral or positive content. People who were more engaged in current events or politics, for instance, were much more inclined to choose unpleasant news.
However, when questioned, these individuals stated that they preferred happy news to negative news. The majority of interviewees stated that the media concentrates on negative stories rather than positive ones.
Researchers who examined the results of these experiments believed that they provided additional support for a theory known as “negativity bias,” which psychologists define as the collective desire to hear and remember negative news. We’ve evolved to be able to respond quickly to potential threats, and negative, bad news can be a kind of signal that we need to change what we’re doing to avoid danger.
People, according to this theory, react more quickly to negative remarks. In clinical testing, displaying horrifying, traumatic negative keywords such as “cancer,” “bomb,” or “war” to someone caused them to run faster than when the words were positive ones such as “baby,” “smile,” or “fun.” You can answer by hitting the button. These studies show that people can recognize negative phrases faster than positive words and can even estimate if a sentence will be unpleasant before we know what it is.
Based on the facts, scholars have proposed another view. We eventually get terrible news because people believe the world is more cheerful and hopeful than it is. When it comes to our own lives, we expect everything to be well in the end, as if we are superior to others.
This upbeat and optimistic attitude makes unfavorable news more startling and noticeable. Because dark patches are only seen on a light background, our fascination with negative news may be more complex than media cynicism or the longing for inner darkness. And it could offer me some optimism for the globe on another day of horrible news (Stafford, 2014).
References
Davis, H. and McLeod, S.Lyndsay. (2003). Why humans value sensational news. Evolution and Human Behavior, 24(3), pp.208–216. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/s1090-5138(03)00012-6.
Olson, E.R. (2008). The Science of Journalism? Why Sensational Sells. [online] Scienceline. Available at: https://scienceline.org/2008/09/the-science-of-journalism-why-sensational-sells/ [Accessed 13 October 2023].
Stafford, T. (2014). Psychology: Why Bad News Dominates the Headlines. [online] Bbc.com. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20140728-why-is-all-the-news-bad [Accessed 13 October 2023].
