Developing Innovative Tools Aimed at Reducing Perceptions of Violence in The Presentation of News and Creating Awareness of a Balanced Approach to News Reporting that Maintains Emotional Equilibrium

Abstract

This research article describes the development of innovative tools aimed at reducing perceptions of violence in the presentation of news and creating awareness of a balanced approach to news reporting that maintains emotional equilibrium. A qualitative research process was employed to experiment and develop prototype tools for assessing mood in news. This led to the production of educational media kits aimed at reducing the use of expressions in news and online media that engender violence. Such expressions are commonly employed to create awareness and generate emotions, the result of which can be distorted perceptions of information on social media. Participatory action research involved three target groups: undergraduate students in Nonthaburi which produce prototype tools for assessing mood in news, first group of lower secondary-school students who learn educational media kits and second group of lower secondary-school students who learn the process of media producer. The result showed that prototype tools for assessing mood in news can be used as tool to create awareness of expressions in news while media kits creating awareness but target groups did not show a clear sign of changing communicating behavior until using the media toolkits along with being media producer in creating news. This process was development of an innovative process involving the use of tools to assess the use of emotional expressions in presenting news. These tools can also create awareness of emotional reactions in news audiences. The tools were evaluated with the sample groups, with young media producers attempting to produce news and content that reduced negative feelings in readers. The results showed that the sample groups learned how news reports were often constructed to generate emotions, giving them a tendency to stop and think and avoid expressing strong reactions. As well, they learned to choose a rational form of online news presentation without the use of inflammatory expressions. Therefore, The process of media production tend to change target groups communicating behaviors and also create media literacy skills.