THE ROLE OF THE MEDIA IN EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

17 Sep 99

-   Overview

-   Positive Role of the Media

-   Negative Role of the Media

-   Local versus National Media

-   Effect of the News Media

-   Importance of the News Media

-   Techniques for Dealing with the News Media

**Objective**

Acquire appreciation of role of the media in disaster response/emergency
management in the U.S.

**References to Review:**

### Ford N. Burkhart. "Journalists as Bureaucrats: Perceptions of 'Social 

###  Responsibility' Media Roles in Local Emergency Planning." *International* 

###  Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters, No.1, March 1991, pp. 75-87.

Fischer, Henry W. III. 1999. *Hurricane Georges: The Experience of the
Media and*

> *Emergency Management on the Mississippi Gulf Coast* (Quick Response
> Report #117). Boulder, CO: Natural Hazards Center.

Horlick-Jones, Tom. 1995. "Modern Disasters as Outrage and Betrayal."
*International*

> *Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters* (November), Vol. 13, No.
> 3, 305-315.

Phillips, Brenda D. "The Media in Disaster Threat Situations: Some
Possible

> Relationships Between Mass Media Reporting and Voluntarism."
> *International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters*, Vol. 4, No.
> 3, November 1986, pp. 7-26.

Scanlon, Joseph, and Conrad McCullum. "Media Coverage of Mass Death: Not
Always

> Unwelcome." *The Australian Journal of Emergency Management*, Vol. 14,
> No. 3, Spring 1999, pp. 55-59.

Seydlitz, Ruth, J. William Spencer, and George Lundskow. 1994. "Media
Presentations of

> a Hazard Event and the Public's Response: An Empirical Examination."
> *International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters* (November),
> Vol. 12, No. 3, 279-301.

Tierney, Kathleen J., Michael K. Lindell, and Ronald W. Perry. "Mass
Media Organizations and

> Disaster." Pp. 136-143 in *Facing the Unexpected: Disaster
> Preparedness and Response in the United States* (Washington, DC:
> Joseph Henry Press, 2001).

**Overview of the Role of the Media in Emergency Management**

Not to be overlooked, at all levels of emergency management, is the role
of the media in emergency management. Television, radio, and the print
medium are pathways of information dissemination and channelers of
public demands---it is how most citizens learn about disasters. No
country has the number and concentration of news organizations as the
U.S. The media can be helpful, complementary, critical or indifferent.

**Positive Role of the Media**

In certain circumstances the news media provide an important disaster
management public service, especially in broadcasting alerts, warnings,
and advisories. They can also play a helpful role in supplying needed
information to decision makers. Among media's potential public services
are:

-   Supplies information and directions to the affected public.

-   Disseminates information on preparedness measures for future similar
    disasters.

-   Stimulates volunteerism and donations, including blood donations.

-   Discloses needs for improvement in governmental response.

-   Sometimes withholds potentially counterproductive information.

**Negative Role of the Media**

The news media can also play a counter-productive role:

"...the media take a particular interest in the typically subjectivist
category of disasters and crises that, without too much reference to
tangible referents, feature craze, panic, and collective stress"
(Rosenthal 1998, 158)

"The prominent role of the media...contributes to the politization of
disasters and crises. The media speed up the political process of
disaster and crisis management. They put pressure on the decision-makers
and crisis managers to explain and justify what they do in order to
avert the threat or bring the crisis to an end. They make it
increasingly difficult for the authorities to suspend their public
appearance until the crisis is over. On the contrary, the media will
compete to be the first to confront the political authorities with
incisive questions about possible causes, deficient emergency
operations, and litigation procedures. If the political authorities are
hesitant to inform the public, the media will find others to give the
answers: such as emergency workers, whistle blowers, and experts. This
will not strengthen their political position. Disasters and crises will
easily turn into high politics....a context of framing and blaming..."
(Rosenthal 1998, 158)

-   [Perpetuate myths]{.underline}. Such as that:

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-   people always panic

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-   disasters incapacitate entire communities

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-   looting and lawlessness is a high probability

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-   all kinds of goods and services are needed---thus prompting unneeded
    and unwelcome donations.

This is primarily a function of an ignorant press; and whose
responsibility is it to see that the media become better informed?

Obviously, public officials at all levels of government have this
responsibility.

-   [Cause stress]{.underline}. News gatherers frequently make demands
    on responders and decision-makers for time and physical and human
    resources that are often needed in the emergency.

-   [Get in the way]{.underline}. And when they do this tends to
    complicate, interfere with, or confound the work of emergency
    management.

-   [Stimulate and encourage political interference]{.underline}. The
    media often looks for another point of view, particularly a
    controversial or provocative one. Often this translates into
    creating a soapbox for political opponents to criticize each other
    and to interfere.

-   [Look for someone to blame]{.underline}.

Owing to the "freedom of the press," news media are not obligated to
report or withhold information simply because the government requests
that it do so. Correspondents seldom cover the full scope and breadth of
a major disaster. The disaster which emergency managers face is not
always the same as the one depicted on television.

**Local versus National Media**

Local media tend to:

-   Focus on the local effects of the disaster or incident.

-   Concentrate on the details.

-   Have better relations with local authorities than outside media.

National media tend to:

-   Maintain interest during crisis and immediate aftermath.

-   Provide general information with less attention to detail.

-   Ask tougher questions of authorities than local media.

-   Sensationalize.

-   Believe in stereotyped disaster behavior mythologies.

-   Attempt to control or manage the news.

From a description of national news organizations during Hurricane
Gilbert along the south Texas Gulf coast during September 1988:

The [network organization]{.underline} personnel functioned as 'pack
animals', often setting up their cameras and satellite dishes away from
the EOC (Emergency Operating Center) and other emergency response
organizations, preferring more picturesque settings along the coast.
Once their satellite dishes were set in place, they tended to bring
interviewees to their location. This practice gave greater control of
the news-making process to the networks. Network personnel were governed
by a norm which defined their role as that of managing the news to
provide a good pictorial story for their viewers. The news they created
tended to conform to their perception of the behavior they expected
during a disaster. Greater control over news management resulted in
greater inaccuracy. (Fischer 1996)

From a description of the Three Mile Island event:

The national media reported everything from a meltdown to a leak of a
small radioactive cloud into the atmosphere. The implications of these
two events very greatly. A complete meltdown would have been a
catastrophe for hundreds of thousands of people, while a radioactive
leak may possibly have become a problem for a few hundred or few
thousand people. "Nearly a quarter of the reporters had a single expert
on tap\...the rest of the reporters made *themselves* into
experts---fast". (Fischer 1996, 210)

**Differences in Media Coverage**

[Television]{.underline} news organizations:

-   Seek powerful visuals.

-   Use short sound bites, often of disaster images & victims.

-   Are often influenced by broadcast times and schedules.

-   Are more tempted to distort or bias reportage in effort to "sell"
    it.

-   [Radio]{.underline} news organizations:

-   Tend to produce short reports.

-   Focus on the immediacy of information conveyed.

-   Can quickly get authorities and disaster information on the air, and
    thus serve useful warning function.

[Print]{.underline} media:

-   Are highly dependent on telephone linkages to transmit information
    to publishing offices.

-   Have different if not fewer time constraints than TV or radio.

-   Are able to provide much more depth and background than TV or radio
    news.

-   Tend to produce longer lasting archives and records of events.

**Effect of the News Media**

"Implicitly, one of its major functions has been to define 'disasters'.
While much of the research on the media in disasters has focused on the
accuracy of the coverage, that emphasis perhaps misses the point. It may
be more important to view media coverage in terms of transmitting
symbols that prompt concern and stimulate citizen involvement" (Dynes
1998, 114).

"...mediazation hammers home the subjective mode of disasters and
crises. It may go all the way from outright sensationalism to
self-imposed censorship. To the extent that the media play an important
role in defining the situation, on both ends of the spectrum this
underscores the distinction between what is really going on and what is
brought to bear upon the decision-makers, emergency workers, the people
in stricken areas and the public" (Rosenthal 1998, 157).

How public officials and their response to disaster are perceived is
very much a function of the news media. Critical coverage often is
unpleasant. This can lead to friction between the media and emergency
management personnel who are leery of media scrutiny of their actions,
when they are trying to do their best to save lives and protect
property. This is particularly the case when it is felt that the media
is getting in the way.

Critical media coverage can also provide an incentive for political
leaders and public officials to demonstrate responsiveness through
investigations of incompetence, mismanagement, or wrong doing.
Similarly, political officials observing the plight of aggrieved
disaster victims on TV frequently causes official reaction. This has
national as well as local repercussions. Some call this the CNN
Syndrome, in that the ready accessibility of camcorders to local
disasters results in national coverage of local events. Sustained
national coverage can impel national and state leaders to respond to the
event, even if their help has not been requested by local authorities.

Conveying urgency, immediacy, and even danger is the goal of most
correspondents, though it may press the edges of responsible journalism.
And, some media look for whatever is sensationalistic, engrossing, or
controversial (as in disagreements among public officials or between
them and other interests. Consequently, news gathering and investigative
reporting may produce politically and managerially troublesome outcomes
for the emergency manager. Disasters yield striking video, strong human
interest, and they have the potential to "create" heroes and villains.

Public officials must be, or at least appear to be, responsive and
sympathetic to the plight of citizens victimized by disaster. The media
provides an important outlet for demonstrating this responsiveness. Thus
the media/emergency management relationship is often a two-way street.
Many emergency management organizations employ a *public information
officer* to work with the press in disaster situations and to be
responsible for the dissemination of disaster information to the public.

**Importance of the News Media**

The bottom line is that it is important to make the media part of the
emergency management team prior to a disaster event. They should be
brought into disaster planning and exercising activities. Their coverage
will be more informed and accurate if they know the local players and
programs ahead of time. You and the public you serve need a
well-informed media. You need the media to communicate to the public in
a disaster event so that you can:

-   Reassure them that what needs to be done is being done.

-   Communicate the progress that is being made.

-   Provide correct and needed information and dispel rumors.

**Techniques for Dealing with the Media**

-   Take the initiative---provide information as soon as it is
    available.

-   Provide frequent updates (even if there is nothing new to report).

-   Be prepared for a wide array of questions.

-   Do not make "off-the-record" comments.

-   Be honest and straightforward.

-   Avoid ambiguity and do not guess at an answer---get back in touch
    with the media to provide information not immediately available.

-   Seek to relate to the audience.

-   Use a team approach and ensure media access to informed sources.

-   Promptly return media calls and other inquiries.

-   Make special preparations for television appearances. While viewers
    often forget content, they do remember style, including appearance
    and voice quality.

-   Prepare for telephone interviews, including knowing who your
    interviewer represents and the planned use of the material.

-   Provide photo and interview opportunities, including media access to
    safe zones within the affected area.

-   Provide background information such as maps, charts and photos to
    enhance print and broadcast stories.

-   Be respectful, tactful and diplomatic in dealing with
    journalists.[^1]

**References**

Auf der Heide, Erik. 1989. The Media: Friend and Foe. *Disaster
Response: Principles of*

> *Preparation and Coordination*. St. Louis, Missouri: C.V. Mosby
> Company.

Dynes, Russell R. 1998. "Coming to Terms With Community Disaster."
Chapter 11 (pp.

> 109-126) in *What Is A Disaster?* E.L. Quarantelli (ed.). London and
> NY: Routledge.

FEMA. EMI. *Political and Policy Basis of Emergency Management.* Higher
Education

> Project College Course. Emmitsburg, MD: Emergency Management
> Institute. <http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/edu/completeCourses.htm>

Fischer, Henry W., III. 1996. What Emergency Management Officials Should
Know to

> Enhance Mitigation and Effective Disaster Response. *Journal of
> Contingencies and Crisis Management* 4, no. 4 (December): 209-210.

Lankford, Darrell M. 1998. "Working with the Media During a Crisis."
*NCCEM Bulletin* 15,

No. 1 (January): 6--7.

Rosenthal, Uriel. 1998. "Future Disasters, Future Definitions." Chapter
13 (pp. 146-159)

> in *What Is A Disaster?* E.L. Quarantelli (ed.). London and NY:
> Routledge.

[^1]: Derived from "The Media: Friend and Foe" in Auf der Heide and
    Lankford 1998.