When societies crash: A critical analysis of news media’s social role in the aftermath of national disasters

Abstract

Apart from their primary role as news providers in disaster situations, news media can also assume a broader social role. Drawing on a critically informed qualitative content analysis of the Belgian news reporting on a national disaster, the article reveals a twofold articulation of this social role. The first consisted in newspapers highlighting the emotional dimension with potential societal implications of raising compassion and identification. Second, we found a strong articulation of a discourse of (national) unity and community, aimed at restoring the disrupted social order in the disaster's aftermath. Both aspects were discursively established by a dominant presence of emotional testimonies, strategies of personalization and by the use of inclusive language permeated with references to nation or community. The study highlights the important social role of journalism in disaster situations and events involving human suffering. Keywords

Twitter, disasters and cultural heritage: A case study of the 2015 Nepal earthquake

“…However, messages from mainstream media tend to be circulated more. The findings of this paper support the findings of previous studies that mainstream media is extremely important in the present times (Ali, 2013; Joye, 2018; Miller & Goidel, 2009). Moreover, unlike Verma et al.’s (2011) findings, some tweets that provided information on the situation of heritage sites also expressed emotions.…”

Disaster Coverage Model (DCM): Six Dimensions to Confront Activities and Workflows for Journalists and News Departments

“…Some authors consider that journalists might not have the capacity to sort stories, separating the aspects that invade the privacy of those that might clarify relevant aspects (Chouliaraki, 2010;Crawford & Finn, 2015;Etchegaray & Matus, 2015;Lozano, 2004). Some argue that the media give too much space to testimonies rather than to objective information (Chouliaraki, 2010;Joye, 2018) and increase the violation of privacy rights (Lozano, 2004). Others argue that the morbid aspect of showing pain derives from the obligation of giving a human character to the news (Noguera Vivo, 2005Vivo, , 2006, while Oyanedel and Alarcón (2010) insist that there is often a tendency to reinforce stereotypes.…”

W(h)ither Media Events? Building a Typology for Theorizing Exceptional Events that Break with the Norm in a Complex Media Landscape

“…As Pantti & Wahl-Jorgensen's (2011) longitudinal study of disaster reporting in the UK observes, coverage of man-made (or what they call technological disasters) tend to focus much more on identifying and then castigating those responsible, whether that be commercial enterprises, public bodies or government agencies. Natural disasters may, in some cases, also result in the blaming of institutional actors, but generally involve less antagonistic responses and slightly more reflective styles of reporting (Houston et al, 2012, Duffy & Yell, 2014, Joye, 2018.…”