News coverage refers to the reporting of current events, either in written or broadcast formats. It includes all types of media, including newspapers, news websites, TV programs, and radio broadcasts.
Breaking news coverage involves the immediate reporting of significant, often unexpected, events as they happen, with a focus on providing real-time information to audiences. It requires journalists to use on-the-scene reporting, effective live reporting techniques, and social media platforms to disseminate accurate and timely updates. This type of coverage often presents unique challenges including the need to quickly verify facts, manage potential safety concerns in chaotic situations, and address misinformation.
Whether it’s through news headlines, social media posts, or a rerun of an old news story, we are bombarded with information about natural disasters, wars, and political unrest around the world. This constant exposure can take a toll on people’s mental health, according to Don Grant, PhD, an expert in the field of trauma and recovery who works with teens and young adults through Newport Academy treatment centers and his private practice.
A major contributor to this stress is framing and bias – which are ways in which the news media emphasize certain aspects of an event while minimizing others, and can impact how audiences interpret those events. This can include how economic news is framed, with research suggesting that negative framing leads people to expect worse economic conditions than would otherwise be the case.