The Effect of Narrative Journalism on Risk Perception of War: News on the Russia-Ukraine War

This study investigates the communication effectiveness of three news formats: "traditional news reporting," "narrative news reporting," and "viewing only news photos" on participants' risk perceptions. Key findings are as follows: First, subjects exposed to war news perceived war risk (N = 118, M = 5.45) as not significantly different from the control group (N = 31, M = 5.34). However, their overall risk perception, although not reaching a significantly different level, is possibly due to an already high baseline. Second, Linear regression revealed a significant positive correlation between risk perception and Support for national defense policies. Third, Participants who read traditional news reports showed a significant increase in Support for national defense policies. This study supports the current "Military News Reporting Practice Manual," which advises against reporting " the number and names of military and civilian casualties " and "interviewing, photographing injured, mentally ill, or cruel military scenes" during wartime.