arXiv · 2605.10394
Sens-VisualNews: A Benchmark Dataset for Sensational Image Detection
Abstract
The detection of sensational content in media items can be a critical filtering mechanism for identifying check-worthy content and flagging potential disinformation, since such content triggers physiological arousal that often bypasses critical evaluation and accelerates viral sharing. In this paper we introduce the task of sensational image detection, which aims to determine whether an image contains shocking, provocative, or emotionally charged features to grab attention and trigger strong emotional responses. To support research on this task, we create a new benchmark dataset (called Sens-VisualNews) that contains 9,576 images from news items, annotated based on the (in-)existence of various sensational concepts and events in their visual content. Finally, using Sens-VisualNews, we study the prompt sensitivity, performance and robustness of a wide range of open SotA Multimodal LLMs, across both zero-shot and fine-tuned settings.
Explore related subjects
Keep this discovery
Explore connections, maps & timelines
Andreas Goulas, Damianos Galanopoulos, Evlampios Apostolidis, Vasileios Mezaris. 2026-05-11. Sens-VisualNews: A Benchmark Dataset for Sensational Image Detection. https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.10394
Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.