How Users Perceive Online Coverage of Death-Related Issues: A Qualitative Study

Abstract
This study employs qualitative research methods to explore how death-related reporting in the internet era shapes users' perceptual biases toward death events and the deceased. Based on in-depth interviews and textual analysis, the research reveals three predominant tendencies in current online death coverage: First, by emphasizing suffering and tragic narratives, death becomes deeply associated with pain, amplifying public emotional resonance while risking cognitive biases and emotional polarization. Second, storytelling strategies (e.g., scene reconstruction, perspective shifts) enhance dissemination effectiveness but may compromise factual objectivity and obscure core issues. Third, information fragmentation on social media and emotional contagion mechanisms intensify the sensationalized portrayal of death, fostering partial public perceptions under incomplete information. The study argues that ethical frameworks for death reporting must balance journalistic professionalism and commercial logic, avoiding excessive sensationalism and consumerism, and shifting toward constructive narrative modes that respect the solemnity of death and guide rational public reflection.

Keywords
Death reporting; Perceptual bias; Qualitative research; New media narratives; Emotionalized communication; Cognitive bias

Cite this paper
Zhengpingxi, How Users Perceive Online Coverage of Death-Related Issues: A Qualitative Study , SCIREA Journal of Sociology. Volume 9, Issue 5, October 2025 | PP. 316-330. 10.54647/sociology841473

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