The Audiences Turned On By Trauma: Are Consumers Addicted to Graphic News?

News doesn’t have a reputation for being cheery. Oftentimes, headlines detail the horrors and hardships of our lives, and audiences are left with reels of human pain and suffering. There’s always news avoidance to filter out the trauma. But not all readers do so. Instead, some eagerly sift through the graphic and gory. Social media’s made trauma retweetable, and news coverage continues to be a main supplier of shareable trauma. In this week’s episode, The Sidebar by NYABJ Producer KATHRYN JONES explores the trauma consumption phenomenon with Axios Local Managing Editor DELANO MASSEY. Together, we investigate trauma news’ role in true-crime passion, civil rights movements, and preserving history. --------- The opinions heard in this episode belong to the individuals who made them and not to NYABJ. Music by HoliznaRAPS. For more information on the New York Association of Black Journalists, please visit our website at www.nyabj.org.