Closing Gaps in International Knowledge and Participation: News Attention, Online Expression, and the 2010 Haiti Earthquake

Abstract

The effects of international news have been relatively underexamined despite evidence that socioeconomic-based gaps in knowledge and participation tend to be the widest for foreign news. This study investigated international news use, online expression, foreign affairs knowledge, and monetary donations in the context of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Regression analysis of national survey data found that high levels of attention to news about the disaster narrowed the knowledge gap for foreign news questions. Also, attention to news about the earthquake was the strongest predictor of monetary donation to the relief effort after controls and was more than twice as likely as income to predict donation. Three measures of online expression (exchanging information about the Haiti earthquake via social media website, e-mail, and text message) also produced positive independent associations with donation, and produced a complementary effect with news attention when interaction terms were considered.

Does compassion go viral? Social media, caring, and the Fort McMurray wildfire

“…Our survey data suggest that using social media to follow the wildfire translated into a greater likelihood of helping (i.e., donating, volunteering, or acting to care for those affected by the fire). This is consistent with research on traditional media use and donating to international disasters (Adams, 1986;Brown & Minty, 2008;Feeny & Clarke, 2007;Martin, 2013aMartin, , 2013bSimon, 1997;Waters & Tindall, 2011). In other words, when a tweet goes viral, it has the power to create real caring actswhich is vital and impactful in times of disaster.…”

“…Social media is clearly different from traditional media. Traditional media's role in international disasters points to raising awareness, which leads to donations (e.g., Martin, 2013aMartin, , 2013b. Social media offers first-hand accounts from victims of disaster, rather than the mediated accounts offered by traditional media.…”

“…This relationship requires more scholarly attention and investigation. While we employ a case study approach, replicating existing work on media and donations in relation to disasters (e.g., Brown & Minty, 2008;Martin, 2013a;Simon, 1997), we believe that the theory and findings have broad implications. In particular, understanding how social media is different from traditional media helps illuminate the use of social media during Hurricane Harvey (2017) to request for assistance.…”

“…The literature on donating and media use requires some re-thinking to examine how social media operates in a different context and has unique characteristics compared to traditional media. In international disasters, print and television news coverage are critical to raising awareness (Bekkers & Wiepking, 2011;Martin, 2013b;Murthy & Longwell, 2013;Oosterhof, Heuvelman, & Peters, 2009) and subsequently to donating to relief efforts (Adams, 1986;Brown & Minty, 2008;Feeny & Clarke, 2007;Martin, 2013aMartin, , 2013bSimon, 1997;Waters & Tindall, 2011). Social media is different, because the news can arrive directly from victims of disasters and the victims are more easily identifiable as members of one's social network.…”

Crises and Social Media: A Metastudy on Pertinent Research and Practice

“…In this regard, models and theories-such as planned participatory behavior, reasoned action, human interaction, Coombs' situational crisis communication theory, risk communication approaches, and the social-mediated crisis communication model-were used (see, e.g., Chakravartty & Downing, 2010;Cooley & Jones, 2013;Freberg & Palenchar, 2012;Liu, Jin, & Austin, 2013;Stephens, Malone, & Bailey, 2005). Systemic approaches, such as those applying networked crisis communication theory and socioeconomic knowledge and participation gaps, appeared less often than did constructivist perspectives, such as those focusing on framing theory and the construction of meaning (see, e.g., Bressers & Hume, 2012;Hamdy & Gomaa, 2012;Martin, 2013;Utz, Schultz, & Glocka, 2013). The functionality of social media services, for example, in context with crowd sourcing, emergency management tools, and the question of channel complementarity, rarely was broached in the research material (see, e.g., Jung & Munehito, 2012).…”