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"When people grow fatigued in the face of observing widespread suffering, they tend to 1) become distressed, 2) blame the victim, and 3) go numb and turn away," Varma wrote. She recommended "an ethic of solidarity" be infused in news coverage -- to humanize nameless, faceless data and individual anecdotes. "Shifting away from purely individualized struggles, an ethic of solidarity would mean standing with communities affected by not only representing their pain, but also their views on what happened, what their needs are, and amplifying their ideas on how these needs can be served," Varma wrote.

From "What to Do When the Numbers in the News Become Benumbing" by Anita Varma, assistant director of Journalism & Media Ethics and Social Sector Ethics, as quoted in CNN's Reliable Sources.