The effect on audiences can be traumatic. Historically, traditional mass media has also shown graphic images and horrifying videos like terrorist attacks or the 1991 Rodney King beating while barraging audiences with related content. For some people, it may not matter through which medium they consume their news: A video is a video and an article an article, whether it’s on a TV screen, laptop or newspaper. But there are several reasons to suspect that the emotional impact of such intimate social-media images or internet-derived news is different, and perhaps even longer-lasting in some cases, than that from old-media sources. To read more from TEDDY WAYNE, click here.