Viewership of Television News Coverage and Mean World Syndrome among Conception National High School Personnel: A Cultivation Analysis

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

This study attempts to analyze the impact of TV on the way the CNHS populace sees risk and safety in their locality. It also looks into whether viewership of national news affects the way they feel about the safety of living in Koronadal City or Region XII and how it correlates with the Mean World Syndrome of audiences. The study hopes to bring an increased level of awareness and a sense of responsible reporting, informed readership and judicious media indulgence. This study will contribute to the advancement of research on the ill-effects of news coverage particularly on sensational crimes and natural disasters aired on mainstream TV news programs. Lastly, it purports a challenge to the government officials on how to best address environmental issues and inner-city crimes that inundate media images and messages online and on TV.

METHODS

Employing a Likert Scale Survey, the researcher asked the respondents to answer the researcher-made questionnaires which were randomly distributed. Respondents were asked to rate how frequently they used certain news sources on a scale from 1 to 4: never, rarely, sometimes or often.

RESULTS

They were asked to specify the news program and the number of hours per week they spend on television watching. They were also asked to evaluate their perceived risk of being a victim of violent crimes in Koronadal City. Further, they were asked to evaluate their perceived risk of being a victim of natural disasters. On the whole, they were asked to rate their perceived risk and safety of living in Koronadal City. The rating scale ranges from 1 to 4: almost no risk, slight risk, moderate risk, or high risk.

DISCUSSIONS

This paper is a contribution research in the field of communication and mass media studies. It examines media effects in more nuanced ways. The insights gleaned from the findings of this study hopes to bring an increased level of awareness and a sense of responsible reportage among media practitioners, an informed readership and judicious media indulgence among the users. The result shall be a gauge to validate the impact of recurrent images in media content. This study will contribute to the advancement of research on the ill-effects of news coverage particularly on sensational crimes and natural disasters aired on mainstream TV news programs. Lastly, it purports a challenge to the government officials on how to best address environmental issues and inner-city crimes that inundate media images and messages online and on TV.