CRIMES AND VIOLENCE IN TELEVISION NEWS AND ITS EFFECTS ON THE MENTAL HEALTH OF VIEWERS IN PAKISTAN

This research aims to study the psychological effects of thenews coverage of violent crimes on television viewers in Pakistan. Itseeks to investigate how such coverage is likely to influence the mentalhealth of the audience. Total 392 news viewers from diverse age, genderand professional backgrounds are sampled following the nonprobabilityconvenience and voluntary sampling techniques. Thesampled participants are investigated over a period of six months (i.e.from June 2016 to December 2016) through a carefully-designedquestionnaire based on the Mental Health Inventory (MHI-38) to assessthe effects of excessive and concentrated news viewing. The findingsof the study indicate that there is significant positive correlationbetween the frequency and duration of mediated exposure to real-lifeviolence and mental distress which is measured in terms of anxiety,depression and emotional instability