This study establishes the construct of “compassion fatigue,” encompassing desensitization and emotional burnout, as a phenomenon associated with pervasive communication about social problems. The study marks the first-known empirical investigation of compassion fatigue as it relates to media coverage and interpersonal communication about social problems. A telephone survey methodology was used to measure compassion fatigue among a general, adult population toward four social problems: AIDS, homelessness, violent crime, and child abuse. Results indicate the existence of a compassion fatigue phenomenon, in varying degrees of magnitude, for every issue. Compassion fatigue was found to be a situational variable, rather than a personality trait. Cognitive, affective, and behavioral manifestations of compassion fatigue are identified, and significant predictors of compassion fatigue are discussed. The findings support the existence of a mass-mediated compassion fatigue phenomenon and suggest that the nature of contemporary media coverage may contribute to emotional fatigue with society's problems.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

This article reports the results of a content analysis of the debut season of the reality television show, The Apprentice. All 15 episodes were examined to determine the role that communication competencies played in competitors’ success or elimination. Results indicate that the ability to persuade effectively was most critical to winning tasks, but leadership skills and interpersonal skills were the most common sources of praise and criticism from teammates and Donald Trump and his associates. Women appeared to be judged more critically for their interpersonal skills than men, whereas evaluations of men focused primarily on their leadership abilities.