The term outrage porn was coined in 2009 by The New York Times political cartoonist and essayist Tim Kreider.
[8][9][6] Media outlets are often incentivized to feign or foster outrage as it leads to increased page views, sharing, and comments, which are all lucrative online behaviors.
"[15] Tufts University professors Jeffrey Berry and Sarah Sobieraj characterised outrage media as both a genre and a style of discourse, both of which attempt to provoke emotional responses such as anger, fear, and moral indignation through tactics such as overgeneralisation, sensationalism, misleading or false information, and ad hominem attacks.
"[18] Additionally, online audiences may be susceptible to outrage porn in part because of their feeling of powerlessness to managers, politicians, creditors, and celebrities.
[19] According to Howard Kurtz, outrage porn draws attention from more important issues, which become lost in the noise.