An overload of news coverage on the conflict in Iraq, thanks to embedded journalists, live coverage and round-the-clock reporting, may have negative impacts on those who become hooked to the news or are not accustomed to the images the media presents.

“I don’t think we’ve ever had instant access to front lines from so many sources as we have now,” said Dick Haws, associate professor in the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication, who teaches a media ethics class.

In the past, Haws said, the news media faced the problem of having a delay between war events happening, their coverage and their presentation to the public.

“The genie is out of the bottle, and we’re gong to have instantaneous, live coverage,” he said. “It’s going to be virtually impossible to keep control of information as it was in the past.”

Many Americans are debating the level to which the war should be covered and the ethics of such constant coverage.

“Iraq should not be showing pictures of dead, captured and tortured American soldiers. The U.S. media, as well, shouldn’t be showing pictures of dead and captured Iraqis, like the pictures published in The New York Times,” Haws said, referring to photographs of dead Iraqi and American soldiers sprawled out in the desert which appeared on its front page Thursday.

“The U.S. should accord the same type of respect to Iraqis that we wish Iraq to accord to us,” Haws said.

Kellie Seifert, senior in meteorology, said she doesn’t agree with the type of coverage the media is giving the conflict in Iraq.

“It makes me feel terrible [to watch war coverage] because life has value and [the media] is showing [war] like life doesn’t mean anything,” Seifert said. “It’s seems like [the media] will do anything to make a buck.”

Carolyn Cutrona, professor of psychology, specializes in coping with stress. She said large amounts of information can increase stress because of peoples’ fears for the safety of loved ones and troops, or it can be reassuring by showing loved ones and soldiers are OK.

Suzanne Zilber, staff psychologist at Student Counseling Services, said it is difficult to determine how sanitized media coverage should be.

“If information is too distant and impersonal, then people don’t get a real sense of the seriousness of what’s happening,” she said. “On the other hand, gruesomeness can be traumatic. I don’t know what the appropriate level of realism should be.”

While this new type of media coverage may be beneficial because of the many perspectives it provides, experts are concerned about the effects it may have on the public.

Brad Bushman, professor of psychology, said he is concerned about the type of coverage the war is receiving.

“Exposure to violence in general can lead to an increase in aggression and depression. Watching war coverage can either cause people to become increasingly angry or afraid,” Bushman said. “Ultimately, war coverage is going to create negative feelings in people, and these feelings are unhealthy.”

Bushman said in this war, people are seeing violent images over and over again, and when people see these repeated images, they ruminate about it.

“We just can’t get [images of violence] out of our head, and that causes significant problems associated with stress,” he said.

He also said he worries about people who watch continuous coverage becoming desensitized.

Dan Fitzpatrick, freshman in pre-business, said he feels uneasy about the overwhelming access to information on the war.

“I think TV coverage really shows inside views of the war, but the media should resist from showing graphic detail. We need to know where we are in the war, but we don’t need to see dead bodies,” Fitzpatrick said.

Zilber said watching TV coverage for new pieces of information to appear can have the same addictive effect as gambling, because pieces of information come along at unexpected rates.

She said she is worried about the ability of the average American to tolerate a lot of cruelty and violence, and she said she believes it’s because of violence’s prevalence in entertainment.

“It’s one thing to watch violence on a TV show such as ‘CSI.’ It’s another thing to see people you know being brutalized, and this is what I worry about,” she said.

Cutrona said, “We are definitely seeing an information overload, and that overload is creating anxiety because people don’t know how to interpret it. People should regulate how much [coverage] they watch,” Cutrona said.

Zilber said, given constantly changing information and switching news sources, students are finding themselves re-evaluating the meaning of the conflict in Iraq and their opinions of it.

“The situation is complex, and our value systems are complex. Sometimes there are direct conflicts between values we hold dear,” Zilber said. “For example, you may support the intent and purpose of war, but feel uncomfortable with the potential loss of lives. In these ways, we feel war-torn, like the rest of the world.”

She said confusion is a real aspect of war and something new for Americans to experience.

People need to remember stress increases when the demands placed on them exceed current skills and resources for coping, Zilber said. Stressed students need to reduce demands, increase support or add a new demand and postpone another to maintain balance.

She said students need to ask themselves what impact the war has on them and what they will need to do differently.

Zilber said students can find a place to talk with other students about the war every Thursday from 4 to 5:30 p.m. on the third floor of the Student Services Building. She also said students are welcome to receive free, confidential counseling from Student Counseling Services in the Student Services Building.