Amrat Haq School of Communication Hong Kong Baptist University

1. Terrorism is so “Passé”: An Analysis of Whether News Coverage of Violence Is Desensitizing Viewers in Pakistan AmratHaq School of Communication Hong Kong Baptist University

2. Introduction & Objectives: • For an audience of 9 million cable subscribers in Pakistan, there are approximately 81 local channels – of which 17 are 24-hr news channels. • Violent news content has become a permanent feature in Pakistan’s news cycle. • There is an urgent need to understand how this is affecting news viewers in terms of their emotional responses, i.e. to see whether it is leading to desensitization or not

3. What People Watch: * Other included Fashion, Educational and Religious categories

4. Desensitization: Desensitization refers to the idea that the more an individual is exposed to violence, the more violence will come to be seen as a normal and acceptable form of behavior. (Cantor & Wilson, 2003; Comstock & Scharrer, 1999; Gentile, 2003; Potter, 1999; Signorelli, 2003) or as a dulling of response in the following four domains: • Cognition • Emotion • Behavior • Physiology

5. Media, Terrorism & Desensitization: • Television has become the leading news medium, with newspapers only supplementary to TV’s instant, live, emotional coverage. • Terrorism has all the hallmarks of being news that grabs and holds viewers’ attentions. • And with the global reach of terrorism, it provides ‘easy’ news for networks working under greater pressure to ‘fill’ the 24 hour news cycle. • This leads to continuous coverage and exposure of news, including that on terrorism

6. Constructs (organizational chart)

7. Questions: • Does higher level of exposure lessen emotional responses to violent news stories? • Will those exposed to more news on terrorism, be less likely to perceive the events covered in the news stories as violent? • Will those exposed to more news on terrorism, be more likely to perceive the events covered in the news stories as commonplace? • How does heavy exposure to news on terrorism affect viewers’ attitude towards the victims of terrorist acts?

8. Methodology: • A 37-item questionnaire was developed • A cross-sectional survey of 1200 participants from across Pakistan was conducted. • One district from each province was selected, the districts were then further split on urban-rural basis. • Punjab – Gujranwala • Sindh – Hyderabad • KP – Peshawar • Balochistan – Quetta • GB – Gilgit • Federal – Islamabad • 811 valid responses were received

9. Results: • Descriptive Stats:

10. Results: • Respondents with heavy exposure to news reported weaker emotional responses to news on terrorism (r = -.16, p < .001). • While the results for questions 2 & 3 were in the predicted direction (r = -.09, p = .07) & (r = .09, p = .07) they were not significant. • Finally, respondents with high levels of TV news viewing reported weaker emotional responses to issues concerning victims’ welfare. (r = -.15, p < .01)

11. Implications • The constant exposure to violence on news encourages the idea that aggressive behavior is normal. • As people’s sensitivities to violence become increasingly dull, violent behavior may increase, in part because it is simply not recognized any longer as behavior that should be curtailed • These lower levels of negative emotion associated with exposure to media violence may reduce the urgency to respond to violence in real life

12. Limitations: • First level of analysis for the study, more of an overview than an in-depth look. • Cross-sectional • The sample is limited in its representativeness • Did not include areas where there is no cable penetration.

13. Thank you!