Effect of crime news reporting on the youth of Islamabad

Abstract

The goal of this research was to investigate the effects of crime reporting on the youth of Islamabad and how the youth has constructed their social reality after being exposed to such content. This study also seeks to find out the youth perception of their society. Total 174 individuals belonging to Islamabad from the age of 15 years to 24 years were sampled. Convenience sampling was employed to select the population. With great care, a survey was designed consisting of 27 questions divided into 4 sections: Socio-demographics, Scale for measuring stress and fear, Crime News Exposure Scale and Impact of Events Scale were adopted and modified. The findings of the research suggest that crime reporting, regardless of the frequency with which it is viewed, has detrimental psychological effects. Youth has perceived the society as a criminal one. They feel fear, stressed and even angry after watching crime related news coverage. The tests also indicated a significant relationship between gender and the stress level. Due to negative perception of the society, the youth avoids going out in gatherings.