I proudly present this article that my daughter Charlotte wrote as a University assignment.
Why do major natural disasters
make big international news stories? Explain the factors involved, why some
disasters get more coverage than others, and why some stay in the news longer
than others. Give examples to support your argument.
Natural disasters come unexpectedly with devastating consequences to countries and sometimes entire regions for years to come, and therefore create a shock factor that contributes to a worldwide interest. The world has become more and more interdependent where other countries news creates a general public concern and interest. There are several factors that contribute to why natural disasters make international news. The fact that they strike without warning, the number of deaths from the disaster, the scale of the destruction, the rescue operations that come following the disaster as they tend to involve many people and need the donations and generosity of people, so to raise awareness these disasters need to be in the news to inform the people on how to help.
The Media is important in conveying the story to the public and making them aware of the situation. Media’s role is also important in the recovery and rescue operations, and its due to the sympathy they spark that help from governments and the public is possible. “Editors and producers don’t assign stories and correspondents don’t cover events that they believe will not appeal to their readers and viewers.”1 Events have a certain amount of time in the limelight, then even if the situation hasn’t been resolve, the media marches on” this is done to avoid compassion fatigue, so the public doesn’t find the story repetitive and gets bored.”2
For the purpose of this essay my focus will be on the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, the Hurricane Katrina (2005) and the earthquake in Haiti (2010). I will look deeper into articles published at the time of the disasters to see how they covered and described the situation. On how the media covers and reports to the world as a whole and how the media’s role is important in raising awareness for the aid.
1Moeller, Susan D., Compassion Fatigue: How the Media Sell Diseases, Famine, War and Death (Routledge, 1999) p. 56
2 Ibid., p. 56
In an article published in The Independent on the 20th of January 2011, Patrick Cockburn calls attention to the fact that “The media generally assume that news of war, crime and natural disasters will always win an audience.”3 Some disasters get more coverage than others due to the people implicated, for example the Indian Ocean Tsunami in Thailand gained a lot of international press coverage due to the amount of foreign tourists that were there at the time and the death toll on tourists was high. The number of Britons that died in the Tsunami in Thailand was of over 400 making headlines in the British newspapers. One can argue that because of the amounts of tourists involved in the tragedy the press decided to cover the events to inform the countries about what was happening to the nationals.
The Asian Tsunami of 2004 featured in the news for a variety of reasons such as the unexpectedness, everyone was taken by surprise as there were no tsunami warning systems and there hadn’t been a tsunami of that magnitude since 1883. It is considered one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history with a death toll of over 230,000 people in 14 countries.4
Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf of New Mexico and left thousands homeless, but it is the lack of support from President Bush and the subsequent criticism that gained a massive media coverage. One can argue that the Bush administration’s failure in taking it seriously made the media coverage focus on this matter and we can say that the way President Bush dealt with this situation was one of his downfalls. Other reasons for this natural disaster capturing headlines worldwide are the fact that it happened in the US which is a country that has so much power and is always news; the high death toll and the intense devastation were also factors that contributed to it being an appealing story for the media. It was the costliest and deadliest Hurricane in the history of the US, but it is also the fact the victims didn’t seem to be getting enough help that made the news take a special interest, to criticize the government’s lack of actions. “The best-remembered single picture of the New Orleans flood is 3http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/catastrophe-on-camera-why-media-coverage-of-natural-disasters-is-flawed-2189032.html (accessed 9/3/12) 4http://www.fao.org/FOCUS/E/disaster/ (accessed 9/3/12)
probably not of water rushing through the streets, but of President Bush peering at it with distant interest out of the window of his aircraft from several thousand feet above the devastation.”5
The earthquake in Haiti left an already heavily impoverished country in complete shambles making the recovery process long. Essential services such as hospitals or the Red Cross were damaged by the earthquake making rescue operations extremely difficult. The death toll was very high and the fear of diseases spreading made the news focus on the catastrophe in order to try to help raise awareness. it is due to famous people’s involvement such as Wyclef Jean’s or George Clooney that it stayed in the news as they didn’t want Haiti to be forgotten. “In a disaster this huge, television reporters are the heralds of the fund-raising effort. News organizations repeatedly let people know how and where to donate money for Haiti, and those reminders allow Americans to feel that they can do something useful.”6
The dramatic relief operations need the press, as donations seem to stop as soon as natural disaster gets out of media coverage. As soon as something is not covered in the press it seems to be forgotten. Haiti’s geographical proximity to the United States made it easy for them to access and intervene with rescue and recovery operations.
Some of the key points that determine whether a natural disaster gets printed in the newspaper are the scale; if it is big and many people die it will get covered even if it happened far away in a country that doesn’t feature in the news usually. The uniqueness or unusual circumstances also make it news, like the 2004 tsunami which was completely unexpected, nobody knew it was going to happen and the devastating consequences it had were unimaginable.
It has been said that natural disasters have become more frequent in the last years, and that is also a reason it features in the news, all these terrible uncontrollable natural disasters that are ravishing countries and killing thousands have been linked with global warming and the human damage that has 5http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/hurricane-katrina-the-storm-that-shamed-america-2057164.html?origin=internalSearch (accessed 9/3/12) 6http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/16/arts/television/16watch.html (accessed 9/3/12)
been done to the planet. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) reported in its 2007 World Disaster report that the trends over the past 10 years showed a dramatic increase in the number of reported disasters and deaths.7 In summary, natural disasters always spark interest in the media, as the dramatic accounts and imagery that comes with it raises sympathy from the public. In an article published in The Independent, Patrick Cockburn argues that “The media generally assume that news of war, crime and natural disasters will always win an audience.”8
The CNN effect, which is more commonly known to focus on political or military situations, has had a role in natural disaster, and we were able to see a media outburst following the Asian tsunami, with videos and images being broadcast almost immediately after the disaster.9 Hurricane Katrina and the earthquake in Haiti have also experienced this CNN effect that has made the public follow almost every second of these catastrophes. Some disasters get more media coverage than others due to the number of deaths, the magnitude of the disaster and other factors that have previously been mentioned. Natural disasters tend to spark empathy amongst the public as the victims of earthquakes, hurricanes and tsunamis are perceived as completely blameless. Western news organizations dominate and tend to cover stories that will profit them in some way; they need to take into account the “newsworthiness” of the story, if it is going to interest the public, etc.
Hurricane Katrina got quite wide news coverage as it occurred in the Western Hemisphere, the 2004 Tsunami involved a fair number of western victims, and Haiti was neither of the previous but did have a high death toll in an already very impoverished country that would not have the resources to make the recovery process on their own. Haiti’s proximity to the US is also a factor that contributed to the news paying attention to Haiti’s earthquake. In summary we can say that the amount of coverage a natural disaster will get is quite bias, as the interest it will spark among the general public is something that is highly taken into consideration. 7http://www.ifrc.org/ (accessed 10/3/12) 8http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/hurricane-katrina-the-storm-that-shamed-america-2057164.html?origin=internalSearch (accessed 9/3/12)
9Hess, Stephen., The media and the war on terrorism (Washington: Brookings institution, 2003) p.177
Bibliography:
Hess, Stephen., The media and the war on terrorism (Washington: Brookings institution, 2003)
Moeller, Susan D., Compassion Fatigue: How the Media Sell Diseases, Famine, War and Death (Routledge, 1999) http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/catastrophe-on-camera-why-media-coverage-of-natural-disasters-is-flawed-2189032.html (accessed 9/3/12) http://www.gwu.edu/~pad/202/readings/disasters.html (accessed 12/312) http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/hurricane-katrina-the-storm-that-shamed-america-2057164.html?origin=internalSearch (accessed 9/3/12) http://www.fao.org/FOCUS/E/disaster/ (accessed 9/3/12) http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/01/22/us-quake-haiti-witness-idUSTRE60L4JP20100122 (accessed 9/3/12) http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/16/arts/television/16watch.html (accessed 9/3/12) http://www.economist.com/node/21542755 (accessed 9/3/12) http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/oct/27/turkish-earthquake-baby-empathy (accessed 9/3/12) http://www.ifrc.org/ (accessed 10/3/12)
Charlotte Archer-Profilio Natural Disasters 2012-03-13
Natural disasters come unexpectedly with devastating consequences to countries and sometimes entire regions for years to come, and therefore create a shock factor that contributes to a worldwide interest. The world has become more and more interdependent where other countries news creates a general public concern and interest. There are several factors that contribute to why natural disasters make international news. The fact that they strike without warning, the number of deaths from the disaster, the scale of the destruction, the rescue operations that come following the disaster as they tend to involve many people and need the donations and generosity of people, so to raise awareness these disasters need to be in the news to inform the people on how to help.
The Media is important in conveying the story to the public and making them aware of the situation. Media’s role is also important in the recovery and rescue operations, and its due to the sympathy they spark that help from governments and the public is possible. “Editors and producers don’t assign stories and correspondents don’t cover events that they believe will not appeal to their readers and viewers.”1 Events have a certain amount of time in the limelight, then even if the situation hasn’t been resolve, the media marches on” this is done to avoid compassion fatigue, so the public doesn’t find the story repetitive and gets bored.”2
For the purpose of this essay my focus will be on the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, the Hurricane Katrina (2005) and the earthquake in Haiti (2010). I will look deeper into articles published at the time of the disasters to see how they covered and described the situation. On how the media covers and reports to the world as a whole and how the media’s role is important in raising awareness for the aid.
1Moeller, Susan D., Compassion Fatigue: How the Media Sell Diseases, Famine, War and Death (Routledge, 1999) p. 56
2 Ibid., p. 56
In an article published in The Independent on the 20th of January 2011, Patrick Cockburn calls attention to the fact that “The media generally assume that news of war, crime and natural disasters will always win an audience.”3 Some disasters get more coverage than others due to the people implicated, for example the Indian Ocean Tsunami in Thailand gained a lot of international press coverage due to the amount of foreign tourists that were there at the time and the death toll on tourists was high. The number of Britons that died in the Tsunami in Thailand was of over 400 making headlines in the British newspapers. One can argue that because of the amounts of tourists involved in the tragedy the press decided to cover the events to inform the countries about what was happening to the nationals.
The Asian Tsunami of 2004 featured in the news for a variety of reasons such as the unexpectedness, everyone was taken by surprise as there were no tsunami warning systems and there hadn’t been a tsunami of that magnitude since 1883. It is considered one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history with a death toll of over 230,000 people in 14 countries.4
Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf of New Mexico and left thousands homeless, but it is the lack of support from President Bush and the subsequent criticism that gained a massive media coverage. One can argue that the Bush administration’s failure in taking it seriously made the media coverage focus on this matter and we can say that the way President Bush dealt with this situation was one of his downfalls. Other reasons for this natural disaster capturing headlines worldwide are the fact that it happened in the US which is a country that has so much power and is always news; the high death toll and the intense devastation were also factors that contributed to it being an appealing story for the media. It was the costliest and deadliest Hurricane in the history of the US, but it is also the fact the victims didn’t seem to be getting enough help that made the news take a special interest, to criticize the government’s lack of actions. “The best-remembered single picture of the New Orleans flood is 3http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/catastrophe-on-camera-why-media-coverage-of-natural-disasters-is-flawed-2189032.html (accessed 9/3/12) 4http://www.fao.org/FOCUS/E/disaster/ (accessed 9/3/12)
probably not of water rushing through the streets, but of President Bush peering at it with distant interest out of the window of his aircraft from several thousand feet above the devastation.”5
The earthquake in Haiti left an already heavily impoverished country in complete shambles making the recovery process long. Essential services such as hospitals or the Red Cross were damaged by the earthquake making rescue operations extremely difficult. The death toll was very high and the fear of diseases spreading made the news focus on the catastrophe in order to try to help raise awareness. it is due to famous people’s involvement such as Wyclef Jean’s or George Clooney that it stayed in the news as they didn’t want Haiti to be forgotten. “In a disaster this huge, television reporters are the heralds of the fund-raising effort. News organizations repeatedly let people know how and where to donate money for Haiti, and those reminders allow Americans to feel that they can do something useful.”6
The dramatic relief operations need the press, as donations seem to stop as soon as natural disaster gets out of media coverage. As soon as something is not covered in the press it seems to be forgotten. Haiti’s geographical proximity to the United States made it easy for them to access and intervene with rescue and recovery operations.
Some of the key points that determine whether a natural disaster gets printed in the newspaper are the scale; if it is big and many people die it will get covered even if it happened far away in a country that doesn’t feature in the news usually. The uniqueness or unusual circumstances also make it news, like the 2004 tsunami which was completely unexpected, nobody knew it was going to happen and the devastating consequences it had were unimaginable.
It has been said that natural disasters have become more frequent in the last years, and that is also a reason it features in the news, all these terrible uncontrollable natural disasters that are ravishing countries and killing thousands have been linked with global warming and the human damage that has 5http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/hurricane-katrina-the-storm-that-shamed-america-2057164.html?origin=internalSearch (accessed 9/3/12) 6http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/16/arts/television/16watch.html (accessed 9/3/12)
been done to the planet. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) reported in its 2007 World Disaster report that the trends over the past 10 years showed a dramatic increase in the number of reported disasters and deaths.7 In summary, natural disasters always spark interest in the media, as the dramatic accounts and imagery that comes with it raises sympathy from the public. In an article published in The Independent, Patrick Cockburn argues that “The media generally assume that news of war, crime and natural disasters will always win an audience.”8
The CNN effect, which is more commonly known to focus on political or military situations, has had a role in natural disaster, and we were able to see a media outburst following the Asian tsunami, with videos and images being broadcast almost immediately after the disaster.9 Hurricane Katrina and the earthquake in Haiti have also experienced this CNN effect that has made the public follow almost every second of these catastrophes. Some disasters get more media coverage than others due to the number of deaths, the magnitude of the disaster and other factors that have previously been mentioned. Natural disasters tend to spark empathy amongst the public as the victims of earthquakes, hurricanes and tsunamis are perceived as completely blameless. Western news organizations dominate and tend to cover stories that will profit them in some way; they need to take into account the “newsworthiness” of the story, if it is going to interest the public, etc.
Hurricane Katrina got quite wide news coverage as it occurred in the Western Hemisphere, the 2004 Tsunami involved a fair number of western victims, and Haiti was neither of the previous but did have a high death toll in an already very impoverished country that would not have the resources to make the recovery process on their own. Haiti’s proximity to the US is also a factor that contributed to the news paying attention to Haiti’s earthquake. In summary we can say that the amount of coverage a natural disaster will get is quite bias, as the interest it will spark among the general public is something that is highly taken into consideration. 7http://www.ifrc.org/ (accessed 10/3/12) 8http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/hurricane-katrina-the-storm-that-shamed-america-2057164.html?origin=internalSearch (accessed 9/3/12)
9Hess, Stephen., The media and the war on terrorism (Washington: Brookings institution, 2003) p.177
Bibliography:
Hess, Stephen., The media and the war on terrorism (Washington: Brookings institution, 2003)
Moeller, Susan D., Compassion Fatigue: How the Media Sell Diseases, Famine, War and Death (Routledge, 1999) http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/catastrophe-on-camera-why-media-coverage-of-natural-disasters-is-flawed-2189032.html (accessed 9/3/12) http://www.gwu.edu/~pad/202/readings/disasters.html (accessed 12/312) http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/hurricane-katrina-the-storm-that-shamed-america-2057164.html?origin=internalSearch (accessed 9/3/12) http://www.fao.org/FOCUS/E/disaster/ (accessed 9/3/12) http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/01/22/us-quake-haiti-witness-idUSTRE60L4JP20100122 (accessed 9/3/12) http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/16/arts/television/16watch.html (accessed 9/3/12) http://www.economist.com/node/21542755 (accessed 9/3/12) http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/oct/27/turkish-earthquake-baby-empathy (accessed 9/3/12) http://www.ifrc.org/ (accessed 10/3/12)
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