107 The Digitalization of News Media

INTRODUCTION

For centuries, news has given the public accessibility to current events, public announcements, important information, and even hot gossip about our favorite celebrities. News allows us to stay informed and up to date with what is going on around us. Before the internet, news was much slower and oftentimes covered more local subjects. Due to the digitalization of news, we now have access to everything on a global scale. With the development of news technology, like many other technological advancements, we have been granted access to an unfathomable amount of information, allowing us to become much more politically, socially, and economically aware of the world around us. While this can be very informative, it is not without its downsides. Because of the limitless amount of information, opinions, and general content that now accompanies today’s news it can be very easy to fall for misleading information. It can also be extremely overwhelming to constantly read and hear about current events when the majority of modern news covers negative, scary, graphic, or depressing content.

TRADITIONAL NEWS

Before the development of the Internet, people got their news from print media, radio, and television sources. This meant that whatever was available was what you were able to consume that day. Information was limited to whatever people had access to as the information providers decided what would go out and what wouldn’t. This allowed for a small number of media outlets to do the reporting and providing of information because the only way to reach the people was through these traditional media outlets. Unlike today, posting information was a difficult and time consuming process. If you did not have any credit in the industry, it was almost impossible for your paper or magazine to gain popularity, for you to broadcast on a radio station, or for you to occupy a tv channel. Because of these restrictions, the pool of news reporting was very limited, causing a select few to profit. While this may have increased the risk for biased sources and slower news reporting, it established a boundary between the consumer and the amount of information available to them.

Post-internet news media

For traditional newspapers, the internet was a little less productive. In a recent study, it was shown that 86% of Americans get their news and current information from digital sources (Shearer, 2021). But it isn’t just print media that is dying out. Additionally, the consumption of news reporting on television networks and cable channels are also seeing a shift with new technological advancements. In the same 2020 study, it was found that about 67% of adults ages 30-49 and 71% of those 18-29 got most of their news from a digital device (Shearer, 2021). The digitalization of media has had a clear impact on how today’s society gets their news.

This shift away from print media has caused many newspapers such as the New York Times and The Guardian to create online versions of their content in order to keep up with the increasing digital demand in the market.  Unfortunately, these companies are facing significantly more competition as the internet’s speed and accessibility now allows for almost anyone to post about the latest news. While this may seem efficient because people can get more perspectives  on events at a much faster rate, this almost unlimited access opens up the possibility for a spread of false or opinionated information.  These sources use methods such as dramatic writing and “clickbait” to draw readers in so they get more views and interaction but at the same time are tricking or preying on their customers. This overwhelming amount of untrustworthy news causes reliable news sources and newspapers to get skipped over because while they might be more accurate and less opinionated, they are still slower and provide information that is less interesting or engaging than their competitors’.

Mental health effects

Many studies have shown the negative effects of particularly stressful or depressing events covered by news media, such as the 9/11 attacks and the COVID-19 pandemic, but in a 2020 case study, psychologists from the Open University of the Netherlands introduced the concept that daily exposure to regular, everyday news media can also be extremely detrimental to viewers’ mental wellbeing. In their study, the psychologists examined the impact of typical daily news exposure on emotional response, finding that a person’s mood became significantly more negative and worrisome after interacting with ordinary, everyday news. These results have a lot to do with how an individual processes information, as one’s perception of an event can significantly influence one’s emotional reaction to it. “When exposed to news facts,” the authors state, “primary appraisal takes place, wherein someone assesses the severity and relevance of the news facts that in turn affect the emotional response” (Hoog & Verboon, 2020). These emotional reactions are extremely subjective to a person’s perception and understanding of the news they are interacting with. One person’s definition of a stressful event could look extremely different from another’s.

While the psychologists identify perception as one of the influences for the negative emotional and cognitive effects, they also report that a person’s feeling of being in control of a situation is a major influence. We are often triggered by feeling like things are out of our control and so when it comes to news, especially on a national or global scale, our sense of control is often lost. While this may seem overwhelming and hopeless, the authors have presented a possible solution. “In order for people to be less affected by news exposure,” they claim, “the news either needs to be perceived as less severe or more under people’s control” (Hoog & Verboon, 2020). They go on to say that these solutions are possible if the media would stop stressing the negative and severe news as much and if they provided more resources and information about how to cope with potentially distressing and graphic news.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. In your opinion, has the digitalization of news been a positive or negative technological advancement?
2. Have you noticed if/ how exposure to distressing news impacts your life?
3. What might the news media look like in the future?
4. Do current events and other relevant news belong in middle and high school classroom curriculums?
5. Is it the news sources’ responsibility to take care of the well being of their consumers by providing information on how to deal with overwhelming news?

rEFFERENCES

Deal C, Bogdan R, Miller JP, et al. Effects of Cable News Watching on Older Adults’ Physiological and Self-Reported Stress and Cognitive Function. The International Journal of Aging and Human Development. 2018;87(2):111-123. doi:10.1177/0091415017729684

Hoog, N., & Verboon, P. (2020). Is the news making us unhappy? the influence of daily news exposure on emotional states. British Journal of Psychology, 111(2), 157–173. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12389

Liu, Hongfei et al. “COVID-19 information overload and generation Z’s social media discontinuance intention during the pandemic lockdown.” Technological forecasting and social change vol. 166 (2021): 120600. doi:10.1016/j.techfore.2021.120600

Otto, M. W., Henin, A., Hirshfeld-Becker, D. R., Pollack, M. H., Biederman, J., & Rosenbaum, J. F. (2007). Posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms following media exposure to tragic events: Impact of 9/11 on children at risk for anxiety disorders. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 21(7), 888–902. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2006.10.008

Shearer, E. (2021, January 12). More than eight-in-ten Americans get news from Digital Devices. Pew Research Center. Retrieved November 27, 2022, from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/01/12/more-than-eight-in-ten-americans-get-news-from-digital-devices/

Vasterman, P., Yzermans, C. J., & Dirkzwager, A. J. (2005). The role of the media and media hypes in the aftermath of Disasters. Epidemiologic Reviews, 27(1), 107–114. https://doi.org/10.1093/epirev/mxi002

[Author removed at request of original publisher]. (2016, March 22). 16.1 changes in media over the last century. Understanding Media and Culture. Retrieved November 27, 2022, from https://open.lib.umn.edu/mediaandculture/chapter/16-1-changes-in-media-over-the-last-century/