Reuters (4/25, Rapaport) reports that in the aftermath of “violent events like mass shootings or natural disasters, people who watch the most media coverage of the story are more likely to show post-traumatic stress symptoms months later,” researchers concluded. For the study, investigators “repeatedly surveyed more than 4,000 U.S. adults who hadn’t been involved in” either the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing or the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, FL. The study revealed that “repeated exposure to explicit violent content may exacerbate fear about future traumatic events, which in turn fuels more consumption of media coverage about the next bombing or shooting.” The findings were published online April 17 in the journal Science Advances.
Related Links:
— “News coverage of violent events may contribute to ‘cycle of distress’, “Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, April 25, 2019