The Reporting of Disasters in Global News Media: A Comparative Analysis of Media Coverage of Hurricane Harvey And The 2017 South Asian Flood
Azad, Abu Naser Mohammad Samiul (2020)
Azad, Abu Naser Mohammad Samiul
2020
Master's Degree Programme in Global and Transnational Sociology
Yhteiskuntatieteiden tiedekunta - Faculty of Social Sciences
This publication is copyrighted. You may download, display and print it for Your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.
Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2020-05-13
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202004213468
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202004213468
Tiivistelmä
In the present age of globalization, people primarily learn about international disasters through global media. How the news media select and frame news of the disaster essentially defines people´s understanding of any disaster. This study compares the 2017 media coverage of Hurricane Harvey, in the United States, and the South Asian flood which hit Bangladesh, India & Nepal. The study examines how five global media outlets (The New York Times, The Guardian, the Cable News Network (CNN), the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), and Al Jazeera) handled the volume of coverage as well as how the reports were framed.
The study follows a frame analysis approach as the news media not only informs people about the disaster but also shapes our understanding of the disaster using specific framings.
The findings show that there is a remarkable difference in the volume of coverage between the two disasters with Hurricane Harvey getting substantially more media coverage than the South Asian flood. Moreover, analysis of the news articles showed that reports of both disasters used six different frames: the human-interest frame, the disaster-measurement frame, the disaster-management frame, the humanitarian frame, the political frame and the climate-change frame. In addition, all five news outlets followed a similar trend when using the frame types to report the two disasters. However, there are considerable qualitative differences in how each frame was used for reporting Hurricane Harvey and the South Asian flood.
The study follows a frame analysis approach as the news media not only informs people about the disaster but also shapes our understanding of the disaster using specific framings.
The findings show that there is a remarkable difference in the volume of coverage between the two disasters with Hurricane Harvey getting substantially more media coverage than the South Asian flood. Moreover, analysis of the news articles showed that reports of both disasters used six different frames: the human-interest frame, the disaster-measurement frame, the disaster-management frame, the humanitarian frame, the political frame and the climate-change frame. In addition, all five news outlets followed a similar trend when using the frame types to report the two disasters. However, there are considerable qualitative differences in how each frame was used for reporting Hurricane Harvey and the South Asian flood.