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Yeah, I agree with this (in as much as I can with out seriously researching it). Images of conflict through the media has played a part in turning war from a nationalistic vote winning jolly (WW1) to a million on the streets protesting, as we saw during the Iraq war.
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Totally anecdotal but because of where I work we once had Don McCullin, the war photographer, come to our office and he showed us a film he shot in the DRC when he got a lift there with some mercenaries during the Congo crisis in the early 60s. This wasn't the sort of film you could show on the TV.
I was nearly sick, as was a colleague sat next to me. That definitely made me more empathetic.
It has not made me more violent.
dst2
Fox
@mellion
Actually there is. In the first world war when the only entertainment were news reels at the cinema & this was a new technology and the ramifications were little understood, they showed some footage from the front of soldiers going over the top & many of them being shot & the public were shocked and outraged because up until that point the impressions were that the war was some kind of jolly jape that our boys would deal with quickly. It changed opinion & it was quickly understood there and then that what the public was shown should be controlled in the future & this continues to this day.