Media and Disasters: enhancing  panic or preventing it?

 

 

 

I remember  hearing about a so called ‘terrorist attack’ in 2015 to a Russian plane flying from Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt to St. Petersburg, Russia. I was at home, listening to Italian TV news reporting on this event and negative feelings started to create inside of me because the way they were addressing the issue was completely wrong. Family and friends from Italy began to ask me “is it safe?” and “how can you live there, with all that’s happening?” The Italian media was using a language that suggested the citizens to not travel to Egypt creating a bias towards the country by saying that terrorists live there. When terrorist attacks happened in Paris and other places, the issue was certainly explained differently.

 

The media is the gateway for news and events happening all over the world and we rely on it to know whats going on throughout the globe, but is media reliable or trustworthy? Knowing that it has developed with the rise of technology to power, questions started to build up in people’s minds on whether the media can be trusted and how much it can influence our opinions and thoughts.

 

All media texts are constructed and re-told in the way that their creators want it to be because the factual truth does not always profit the institutions, but there is a significant difference between re-telling news and faking news.

 

 Fake news first turned up hundred of years ago but it became popular nowadays as the internet has facilitated the spreading of this phenomena. Bettina Downing, Media tutor at De Montfort University explains that fake news happen for many reasons hoping to ‘influence, persuade, scare, or change a situation that exists’. Whatever the reason, fake news seem to have a huge impact on society especially when a disaster or a crisis is about to happen. 

 

Hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes and many more, can disrupt a country creating fear and anxiety and that is why traditional media and countries have strategies and plans on how to communicate a crisis - mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. 

 

In order for the news to be effective amongst the audience, the communication of a crisis must begin early and repeated several times (Collins et al., 2016). 

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                                    The crisis communication techniques presented by the media can often fail to prevent                                                 panic because of the information presented by the social media. Citizens have began to                                               report on a disaster, by posting videos and photographs of the disaster scenes on social                                               media  which in turn spread faster than traditional media, such as television. This ‘citizen                                           journalism’ act has caused the media to be criticized for not providing accurate                                                           information or trying to cover up the seriousness of an issue. For example, Downing                                                   mentioned the recent coronavirus case in Brighton. In the case of news regarding war                                                 conflicts coming from Syria or Palestine people were forced to rely on citizen                                                             journalism as reporters were not able to enter the territory. 

 

                                    The coverage of a disaster from the media is influenced by where it happened and who it                                           involved creating a paradox. Why are western countries more likely to receive coverage                                             and attention if less developed countries need it the most? (Greenberg and Scanlon, 2016). 

 

                                    In 2005, an earthquake struck Pakistan and some areas of India and according to Shah        (2005) this disaster has not received the coverage required and “only a fraction of the money pledged has been received” said The UN and The Red Cross. 

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The news reported by the media undergo a selection from the producers and editors based on what attracts the most, also depending on where it happened and who it involved. News values are applied to stories to help decide what story will sell the most. 

 

Elite Nations have a higher chance of being reported on than a third world country, more movement from the media results in better coverage for the disaster. 

 

Continuity in a story is fundamental for newspapers and they tend to drop a story if nothing new has happened. Moeller once said “If I tried to sell you the story of Congo, you might say it could wait until tomorrow, or the next day, or the next decade” (Moeller, 2006, p.180).  

 

Ethnocentricity is a also a factor that interests the audience because the news are happening close to home. 

 

Media institutions can be very useful when facing a disaster because they communicate the situation earlier and follow the problem bit by bit providing advice. They act as ‘information brokers’ informing people if they are at risk and what they can do to be safe. (Greenberg and Scanlon, 2016). The main concern is on how the stories are told. 

 

The language must be appropriate depending on the type of disaster and its gravity. The information should be accurate, told in a way that prevents panic and makes the audience take control of the situation. Online media can definitely create panic and cause confusion within the readers, as Downing explained online media is not subject to the same journalistic rigor as newspapers so fake news can circulate easily online. Fortunately, the media is always reaching out to be the ‘first, right and credible’ (CDC, 2012 cited in Collins et al., 2016). 

 

The media wants to be credible, but on top of all it wants to make money. Distortions are often made to stories to make them more colorful, more interesting and worth reading. These distortions can also appear as bias from the reporters or the producers because they can try to promote an ideology within their text.  

Another reason might be persuading the audience to act in a particular way. Many reasons can cause news to be slightly changed or reported from a different angle, since all stories are constructed. 

 

News stories may not lead to panic but the language used can. The media does not aim at creating panic but fake news might. Downing says “We have to be critical readers, viewers and listeners at what we are looking at. Question where its come from, who has created it and how valid it is.” 

 

“We must not be too trusting of what is on social media.” she adds.