Representing Death and its Emotion-eliciting Symbols in Virtual News Channels

Aim: Television and news programs are full of scenes that remind us that life will no doubt end. The purpose of this study was to investigate the representation of death news and its exciting symbols in virtual news channels. Methods: The research method was qualitative and thematic analysis was used. The population of the study included virtual news channel contents and the sample were four high-profile news channels in which the news of death during the period of May-August 2019 was reviewed. Month and channel selection were random and sampling continued until data saturation. Findings: Based on the analysis of news themes, the representation of death news was categorized in ten themes: physical and disease complications, unintentional accidents, brain death, alcohol and drug abuse, suicide, mass killing, murder, retribution, negligence leading to death, and death and killing of animals, as well as representations of attention-grabbing practices and increased excitement were categorized into five themes of stimulating imagination (sensitive location and time of occurrence, symbol of fear and apprehension and conflict), imaginative symbols (sympathetic and associative, unfinished affair and ambiguity), quantitative symbols (statistical increase and volume of news coverage, symbols of importance (reporter’ responsibility and fame), and references to taboos (rape leading to death). Conclusion: The difference between the representations of mortality factors in research and news differs in presenting prevention methods in research. Meanwhile, in the news of death, awareness and the provision of useful preventive strategies have been nearly zero. This causes continuous rumors of negative events that increase emotions of sadness, fear and anger and cause people to feel insecure.