Testing the Role of Inspirational and Crime News Use in Self-Report Empathic Concern and Helping

Abstract

The present study integrates consumption of two types of news, inspirational and crime news, into the empathy-helping framework. Data from an online survey of Japanese adults show that inspirational news use has a positive relationship with self-report helping at a later point in time. Data also indicate that inspirational news use does not have a significant link with empathic concern and personal distress reported by respondents. Rather, self-report empathic concern has a positive cross-lagged relationship with both perceived inspirational news use and crime news use. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed.