Content analysis of cyberbullying coverage in Newspapers- A study from Bengaluru, India

Abstract

Cyberbullying affects the mental health of victims. Media especially print media plays a significant role in reporting of cyber-related crimes to the general public. A total of 549 leading English daily newspapers for a period of 6-months were reviewed. The data were content analyzed using frequently repeated themes/contents. Totally, 51 instances of individual cyberbullying stories were reported from 549 newspapers. Among the reported incidents of cyberbullying in the print media, online harassment and impersonation were the most common type of cyberbullying experienced by the people. The study highlights the need for framing local guidelines for reporting of cyberbullying incidents and preventive mechanisms in the print media.

Keywords

• cyberbullying
• guidelines
• mental health
• reporting
• victims