The Desensitization Of Violence In The Media

In the American new industry, the journalism field competes to cover the newest and most interesting story. One of the focal points of media coverage revolves around who can gather the information and publish it first. Additionally, the media feels a necessity to maintain the viewers’ interests in order to receive better institutional rankings. Furthermore, news stations will often display graphic images of unfortunate events in an attempt to introduce emotions to its views. Nevertheless, these tactics raise questions about the media contribution to the desensitization of the viewers.
Historically, many leaders have used violent images as propaganda to motivate viewers to take action against such atrocities. Likewise, the media has intended to use violent images to motivate feelings of hatred, disgust, and sadness towards that which is in the photograph. Nonetheless, the use of these violent images negatively impacts viewers. According the American Psychological Association, “Other research has found that exposure to media violence can desensitize people to violence in the real world and that, for some people, watching violence in the media becomes enjoyable and does not result in the …show more content…
Violent images not only contribute to, but may even be the leading cause of desensitization. Due to the desensitization of humanity to violence, society is faced with a community of individuals who have little ability to feel emotion towards devastating situation. Instead of summoning negative emotions against the events, the media has effectively worked against itself by bringing up feelings of arousal towards tragic events. The solution to the problem of desensitization is to stop the counterproductive publication of violent images. Journalists are trained to describe the situation; they should use those skills instead of graphic images causing