Sensationalism in Trinidad's Print Media: Newspapers Study

Introduction and Statement of the Problem

Sensationalism in journalism is no new phenomenon; it has existed for decades. Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph, who were leading journalists in the nineteenth century, were accused of sensationalizing the news in order to increase the sales of their publications. According to Stephens (2007), humans are wired to be alert to sensations, particularly those involving sex and violence, probably for reasons of natural selection.

Many are against sensationalism, arguing that because of its use numerous newsworthy items are omitted in favour of more frivolous ones. Sumer Sharma, a sixteen-year-old young man in India, was so troubled by sensationalism in the Indian news media that he launched INFORMission in May 2013 — a weekly newsletter with short, rewritten reports he considered relevant and free of sensationalism. While some are against it, there are those who see it as a useful tool that serves a function. Stephens (2007) believes sensationalism promotes the spread of information to less literate audiences and strengthens the social fabric.

Wang (2012) found that crime, accident, and disaster-related news were the main sources of sensational news across fourteen countries studied. Crime news is one of the main staples of media reports in Trinidad. The media is often accused of sensationalizing crime and glamorizing criminals. Does it really? Or is the media simply fulfilling its purpose in reporting the news? What studies have been done to support these claims of sensationalism? How does the Trinidadian public perceive sensationalism?

This study addresses the following research questions:

Is sensationalism present in the daily newspapers, and to what extent? Which newspaper most widely uses sensationalism in its reporting? Which factors affect newspaper readers' perception of sensationalism?

This study seeks to launch a scientific investigation and scholarly discussion on sensationalism in the media in Trinidad and the public's perception of it, using the newspapers and persons who read them as the source of investigation.

Though studies on sensationalism have been conducted in other countries, similar to the one conducted by Wang (2012), such studies cannot be generalized across all societies. Therefore, a discussion on sensationalism in Trinidad will require a study specific to Trinidad. It will provide data that can be used to either support or dispute casual claims of sensationalism and reveal how persons perceive it. The study will also add to the existing body of literature, and most importantly serve as resource material for students and other individuals wishing to pursue the issue.

The media is undeniably powerful. Bernstein (1992) declares that the media is probably the most powerful of all our institutions. It influences and informs our opinions and choices and decides which information we receive. The way this information is presented will determine the kind of attention we ascribe to it. Thus, any study of the media and the way in which it presents news or other information is worthwhile. Any study regarding how these messages are perceived by the target audience is also justified. Hendriks Vettehen, Nuijten, and Peeters (as cited in Burgers and de Graaf, 2013) agree, stating that the perception of sensationalism is an important aspect of sensationalism since the term refers to the sensation or experience of recipients.

Literature Review

A visit to the Express House, which houses CCN TV6 and the Daily Express Newspaper, revealed that the newspaper is still the number one medium in Trinidad — information provided by one of the senior TV6 managers. Trinidad is still a society that depends heavily on the newspaper for news. This is evident in the number of newspaper vendors that can be seen daily along the streets of Port of Spain alone, and in the number of persons who say they must have their daily newspaper, with some buying all the major dailies. It is therefore very fitting to begin a study on sensationalism by way of the medium persons turn to first for news — the newspapers.

This study will lay the groundwork for further studies in the area. Considering a single medium will provide a limited view of the problem; however, future studies should include other media in order to provide a more comprehensive view of the issue.

Sensationalism has survived. Early newspapers printed stories about wars and executions. Colonial newspapers printed stories about tragedies, shipwrecks, murders, and the private lives of the famous (Shaw & Slater, 1985). In mid-sixteenth century Germany, crimes and executions were recounted in pamphlets and broadsheets (Wiltenburg, 2004). The news reports of today still reflect some of the same content. The invention of the television and advancement of technology have profoundly aided the presentation of news that is not only sensational in content but also in style.

A review of the literature on sensationalism will surface terms such as penny press and yellow journalism, which are synonymous with sensationalism. The penny press refers to newspapers that cost only a penny and were presented in a very sensational style. Yellow journalism is defined as journalism that distorts and exaggerates the news in order to create sensations and attract readers. The word sensationalism itself was only coined in the nineteenth century and was used as a derogatory term to criticize literature or journalism that aimed at arousing strong emotional reactions (Wiltenburg, 2004). Bernstein (1992) argues that sensationalism is distorting American media coverage, turning it into a kind of news sewer and resulting in what he calls an "idiot culture."

According to Grabe, Zhou, and Barnett (2001), there are three main arguments against sensationalism: it violates notions of social decency, displaces socially significant stories, and represents a drift into excessiveness. However, these arguments are rebutted by claims that sensationalism plays a role in social decency by publicly showcasing what is unacceptable, and that stories about crime, disaster, and substance abuse are in fact socially significant to ordinary people. Sensationalism is also viewed as being motivated by competition in news markets and economics (Hofstetter & Dozier, 1986; Wang & Cohen, 2009; Burgers & de Graaf, 2013). According to Wiltenburg (2004), sensationalism is seen as a commercialized product used for the exploitation of the mass media, and as such scholars have tended to view it as unworthy of serious study.

The literature presents no clear definition of sensationalism. However, many attempts have been made to define it in terms of its manifest features — content and form. Attempts at definition most frequently include reports about crime, violence, disasters, sex, and scandal, as well as video techniques in television and writing style in newspapers. These features inherently possess the potential to be attention-grabbing and emotionally arousing. According to Kleemans and Vettehen (as cited in Burgers and de Graaf, 2013), sensationalistic news features are "content features or formal features of messages that have the capability to provoke attention and arousal responses in viewers" (p. 168). For the purpose of this study, sensationalism will be defined as news items that use content and formal features to emphasize shock value, dramatize, or exaggerate, in order to attract and provoke attention and emotional arousal.

Within the existing literature, two theories have been applied to the study of sensationalism, both of which will find application in this study. The limited capacity model of motivated mediated message processing makes five basic assumptions: humans have a limited capacity for processing messages; they have a limited number of cognitive resources for perceiving, encoding, understanding, and remembering; they have two motivational systems — appetitive (approach) and aversive (avoidance) — which activate in response to stimuli; media presents information through sensory channels (eyes, ears, etc.) and formats (words, texts, still pictures, etc.); and human behaviour occurs over time and is constantly changing. Communication, under this model, is the interaction between the human motivated information-processing system and the communication message.

Processing messages involves three sub-processes: encoding, storage, and retrieval. Encoding is the process of creating mental representations of stimuli. The important aspects of a message are unconsciously encoded, while parts that are not encoded are lost. According to Lang (2006), processing resources must be allocated to a piece of information for it to be encoded. Resources are allocated as a result of controlled or automatic systems. Controlled response relates to a person's ongoing goals and interests, while automatic allocation happens through an orienting response. Many aspects of the environment automatically elicit the allocation of resources through novel, signal, or motivationally relevant stimuli.

Storage is the linking of recently encoded information to previously stored information. For something to become part of a person's long-term memory, it must be encoded and linked to other stored information; however, some things are poorly stored due to limited resources. Retrieval involves accessing previously stored information — bits of information are linked together, and when one bit is activated, this activation spreads across the links, activating closely related information (Lang, 2006). Under this theory, messages that represent novelty or are motivationally relevant will automatically elicit an orienting response and may be considered sensational.

The other theory found in the literature is vividness theory. This states that information can be considered vivid if it attracts and holds attention and excites the imagination to the extent that it is emotionally interesting, concrete, imagery-provoking, and proximate in a sensory, temporal, or spatial way (Hendriks Vettehen, Nuijten & Beentjes, 2005).

Similarly to the study of Hendriks Vettehen et al., this study will apply both theories to some extent. Though these theories have been more readily used for the study of television news, they can also be applied to the study of newspapers. In the limited capacity model, motivationally relevant stimuli refers to content that elicits an automatic response — in this study, content including topic as well as graphic pictures will be used as one of the identifying features of sensationalism. The concept of novelty is usually applied to formal features, also called tabloid packaging; applied to the newspaper, this will include attention-grabbing headlines and writing style. Concreteness will apply to direct statements from sources, and proximity will apply to local news.

A review of the literature has yielded a small body of research particularly concerned with sensationalism, and even fewer studies relating specifically to sensationalism in newspapers. More than half the studies on sensationalism relate to television news — surprising, given that the notion of sensationalism predates the invention of television. Burgoon, Burgoon, and Wilkinson (1981) note that to date there has been little newspaper research in the areas of human interest, sensationalism, and creativity.

Most studies on sensationalism focus on content and ignore form (Grabe et al., 2001). These researchers assert that the weakness of focusing on content while ignoring form lies in the potential to package sensational stories such as crime in a non-sensational way, and vice versa. Their study, "Explicating Sensationalism in Television News: Content and the Bells and Whistles of Form," examined two television news programs for sensational features of both form and content. One programme was typically considered sensational (Hard Copy) and the other a "proper" programme (60 Minutes). Content was measured by nine categories, including four non-sensational topics and five sensational topics: politics, education, economics, health, crime, accident/disaster, celebrity news, scandal, and sex. Form was measured by video techniques and decorative effects, including zoom in, zoom out, eyewitness camera, sound effects, voice and tone of the reporter, and several transition techniques.

The content analysis method was used for the study, with a sample of one issue per week for each programme over a six-month period, yielding 54 issues and 291 individual news segments as the units of analysis. Results showed that both programs shared some interest in covering certain news topics such as crime and scandal; however, what distinguished them were the formal features applied. Hard Copy used many formal features in its reporting, particularly when covering a sensational story, while 60 Minutes tended to avoid these features even when reporting a sensational story. Grabe et al. concluded that investigations focusing on story topics alone and omitting production features run the risk of overlooking important differences between sensational and respectable journalism. The difficulty with this argument, however, is that it does not consider the effects of sensationalism on viewers — notable given that Grabe et al. themselves pointed out that research about its effects on viewers is rare.

Wang (2009) launched a study on viewers' perception of sensationalism, also considering both content and formal features. The study used a telephone survey, which allowed the acquisition of a large and representative sample suitable for generalization. A random selection initially yielded 1,235 candidates; persons who reported watching fewer than two hours of news the previous week were eliminated, leaving 894 persons ranging in age from 18 to 86, with a mean age of 44 years. The sample consisted of 464 men and 430 women. Across the sample, 41.4% had a college education, 33.9% had a high school education, and 24.5% had a junior high education or less.

The findings revealed no relationship between news topics and viewers' perception of sensationalism; however, viewers did perceive gossip as the most sensationalized topic. Wang (2009) noted that previous studies had identified crime stories as the most sensationalized, and speculated that the change could reflect desensitization. A relationship was found between the formal features of television news and viewer perception of sensationalism: the more audio, editing, visual, and production features perceived to be present, the more the news was perceived as sensational.

Slattery and Hakanen (1994) replicated a study by Adams (1978), in which he refuted critics' claims that the majority of news was devoted to sensationalistic stories. The same ten network stations in Pennsylvania were sampled for the same time period — August 17 to September 8 — yielding 96 newscasts as units of analysis, which were examined using content analysis. Slattery and Hakanen (1994) reported that at the time of their study, compared to the time of Adams' study, there was an increase in sensationalism, particularly pronounced in the lead stories. The increase had come at the expense of information related to local government, politics, and public policy.

Significantly, their findings also revealed that some stories coded as local government, community affairs, or national/international news were depicted in a sensational way — a phenomenon referred to as embedded sensationalism. A story was coded as containing embedded sensationalism if, for example, it was about a community's efforts to clean up after a tornado: while it initially fell into the category of community affairs, it was set in the context of a natural disaster. This bolsters Grabe et al.'s point about the weakness of measuring sensationalism purely in terms of content, when non-sensational topics can be presented in a sensational way and vice versa.

Hendriks Vettehen et al. set out to expand the concept of sensationalism and determine its level in Dutch television news during the period 1995 to 2001. Three Dutch TV news stations were used in the study, with a sample drawn across a fourteen-day period for each year. They expanded the concept of sensationalism by combining two frameworks: the limited capacity model and the vividness theory. Nesbitt and Ross (as cited in Hendriks Vettehen et al.) argue that vivid information is able to attract and hold attention, stimulate imagination, and is better retained. The study used four categories: concreteness and proximity from the vividness concept, and basic needs content and tabloid packaging from the limited capacity model. Concreteness was exemplified as a "guy next door" complaining about cuts to his unemployment benefit, which would be more concrete than simply providing general information about benefit cuts. Proximity was identified through a variety of camera techniques that simulate real-life observation.

Findings showed an increase in sensationalism in Dutch television news overall, though the increase did not occur on all indicators — particularly not on the indicator of dramatic subject, which falls in the category of basic needs content. Hendriks Vettehen et al. argue that results on most indicators for proximity and concreteness support the validity of extending the concept of sensationalism to include the vividness theory. Sensationalism increased in form but not in content, which parallels Wang's (2009) finding that there was no relationship between news topics and viewers' perception of sensationalism.

Hendriks Vettehen et al. further argue that research on sensationalism using this extended concept is significant because it allows for predictions about both positive and negative effects on consumers. On the positive side, both models predict that sensationalism would attract more viewers and increase attentiveness, meaning sensational production techniques could be part of good storytelling. On the negative side, the limited capacity model implies that sensational packaging of an already sensational topic could result in cognitive overload and harm retention, while vividness theory implies that vivid aspects of news draw attention to only some parts of the content, potentially leading to distorted comprehension and judgement.

Hofstetter and Dozier (1986) conducted a study on news programming in Houston and found that while sensationalism does not dominate news coverage, a considerable amount of it exists. The sample consisted of 924 news stories collected from July 13 through August 4, 1981. Eight variables were considered: instruction, process, background, consequences, pros and cons, political process, attribution, and multiple sources. Similar to previous studies, stories emphasizing topics such as crime, violence, disaster, fires, and the like were coded as sensational. Findings revealed that sensational news stories contained elements of quality news such as background information and political process, which according to Hofstetter and Dozier (1986) can serve as an opinion resource for citizens in their everyday activities.

Theoretical Framework

A limitation of the study is that the extent to which the eight variables appeared in a story was not measured or coded — once a variable appeared in any degree it was coded as present. This means a sensational story may have contained just one variable and still been coded as containing elements of quality news, suggesting that if the threshold had been set differently — say, requiring the presence of three or more variables — the results may have been quite different. The findings can nonetheless be linked to Hendriks Vettehen et al.'s views on the positive effects of sensationalism: both research groups found usefulness in sensationalism, the former through attracting viewers and increasing attentiveness, and the latter through the presence of quality informational elements.

According to Pasadeos (1984), the term "screaming sensationalism" refers to sensational front-page headlines. He conducted a newspaper study in San Antonio with the main goal of determining the extent to which a Murdoch-owned daily newspaper (The Sun) front page changed during the 1970s, comparing it to similar changes in another San Antonio paper (The Light). He used content analysis and the Sendex Technique and compared the findings. The Sendex Technique is a set of semantic-differential scales used to determine the degree of sensationalism, rating news stories using twelve bipolar adjective pairs: accurate/inaccurate, good/bad, responsible/irresponsible, wise/foolish, acceptable/unacceptable, colourful/colourless, interesting/uninteresting, exciting/unexciting, hot/cold, active/passive, agitated/calm, and bold/timid. A modified version was used by Wang (2009) in his study on sensationalism in Dutch television news.

Measurement included the amount of space given to headlines, body copy, illustration, and the flag. Headlines were considered sensational if they fell into one or more of the following categories: printed white on a black background, placed above the flag, underlined, placed in a box or half-box, or surrounded by graphic elements. Stories on crime, violence, armed conflict, death, accidents, disasters, scandals, and other crises were categorized as sensational in content. Results showed that sensationalism increased under Murdoch's acquisition of the paper. In 1973 The Light could have been called more sensational than The News; however, by 1974 the opposite was true.

Shaw and Slater (1985) conducted a study of the American press for the period 1820 to 1860, sampling sixty-seven newspapers. Similarly to other studies, stories were observed for both content and style. Shaw and Slater (1985) asserted that style of reporting is critical in assessing whether a story is sensational. Tannenbaum and Lynch (as cited in Shaw and Slater, 1985) found that short sentences combined with short and familiar words are more likely to be considered sensational. Similarly, Smith and Coombs (as cited in Shaw and Slater, 1985) found that the same story was assessed differently by readers depending on how it was presented; short paragraphs were found to be more likeable and interesting. They thus concluded that sensationalism resides in both the topic and the style of presentation.

The results showed that by contemporary standards the news of the period did not seem sensational; there were only a few sensational topics in the sample, and they were written in a long, leisurely style. However, by 1840 sensational stories began to be shortened. Shorter paragraphs also meant shorter sentences. What is most notable is the change in style — the way news was presented — rather than necessarily an increase in sensational topics.

Burgers and de Graaf (2013) posit that an intensifier is a textual feature that makes printed news more sensationalistic. Their study addressed the role of sensationalistic message characteristics as well as readers' perception of sensationalism, following the same view as Shaw and Slater (1985) that writing style is an indication of sensationalism in print media. Shapiro (as cited in Burgers and de Graaf, 2013) proposed that style includes word choices and linguistic packaging. According to Burgers and de Graaf (2013), language intensity involves two dimensions: specificity and emotionality. Specificity means that more specific (more intense) language is more concrete and vivid, while less specific language is more abstract and vague. Concrete language uses descriptive action verbs, while abstract language uses adjectives that infer dispositional qualities. Emotionality refers to the degree of affect in the language. Semantic intensifiers are words that can be replaced with a less intense word — for example, gigantic can be replaced with large. Lexical intensifiers are words that can be removed from the text to decrease intensity — for example, very can be removed from the phrase "very large." The study was conducted as an experiment, and results showed that intensifiers did increase perceived language intensity as a sensationalistic news feature.

In sum, the studies presented reveal several salient points. Sensationalism manifests in both form and content. While content involves topics such as crime, accident/disaster, celebrity news, scandal, and sex, form involves video techniques and decorative effects such as zoom and sound effects. As formal features increase, so does viewers' perception of sensationalism. The concept was extended to include the vividness theory, enabling the use of proximity and concreteness as indicators of sensationalism. Sensationalism can be a useful tool in attracting viewers' attention and sometimes contains elements of quality news. In print media, writing style is the equivalent of form in television news. The amount of space given to headlines, body copy, and illustration are good indicators of sensationalism, as is the use of short paragraphs and sentences and the deployment of intensifiers.

Conclusion

Sensationalizing the news is not new and will most probably continue to exist for two reasons: the continued competition in the news market, and the natural tendency of human beings to gravitate toward sensational experiences. The concept has evolved over the years both in practice and in the literature, and the way it is viewed has evolved as well — now encompassing claims that it serves a purpose and can be useful. Though literature on the issue may be in short supply, public debate on it is consistent, and it is anticipated that this will be an ongoing debate unlikely to find resolution soon.