Psychological filters for conflict news: trauma and media literacy of the Syrian audience

The subject of this study is the analysis of psychological filters of interpretation and perception of news content about conflicts among the Syrian audience. The authors of the article analyze in detail the consequences of the impact of individual and collective trauma (sustained as a result of the long-term war) of Syrians on the process of media consumption. The study also substantiates the importance of media literacy as a tool to overcome the negative consequences of prolonged mass exposure to the Syrian audience. The purpose of the study is to examine the traumatic experience of the Syrian audience and its role in shaping cognitive and emotional strategies for interacting with news information, systematize and describe the main types of psychological filters, and justify the need to integrate systematic media education into the general educational trajectory in order to create greater stability and awareness of society. The article uses a comprehensive analysis of theoretical concepts (trauma, confirmatory distortion, cognitive dissonance), data from non-governmental reports, and international organizations dedicated to the process of media consumption and the mental health of the Syrian population. The empirical basis of the study was formed by a quantitative survey of Syrians (analysis of the perception of news about the humanitarian crisis in Sudan), as a result of which three types of psychological filters were identified. The scientific novelty of the study lies in contextualizing and demonstrating the mechanisms of the crisis, describing the fragmentation of the media landscape of the Syrian audience. The system of applied psychological filters is identified and specified; the original and empirically based typology of information consumption strategies by Syrians is described. The role of the Syrian intelligentsia (as creators of cultural narratives destroyed by the war) is explored, the concept of "loss of the right to meaning" is introduced, and the existential crisis of this social group is considered as a consequence of collective trauma. The process of Syrians consuming news is seen not just as an isolated act, but as part of a general process of loss of cultural identity and social community. Media filters are a consequence of the personal, collective, and generational traumatic experiences of Syrians. The authors of the article come to the following conclusions: Syrians' perception of news is very traumatic (protective mechanisms prevail); various media consumption strategies have been formed (psychological protection (29%), emotional attachment (40%), avoidance (31%); trauma is intergenerational and collective in nature; The key practical solution is the formation of a strategic media literacy system necessary for social recovery and building the country's future (integration into school curricula from an early age).