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Media is generally described as an impersonal mode of communication through which written, visual, auditory, or a combination of these messages are conveyed directly to the audience. Simply put, media refers to the various channels used to communicate with a large population across communities, cities, or nations through text, print, sound, voice, visual content, or a mix of these elements.
Types of Media: Media can take various forms, but for disaster management, the following types are particularly significant:
Print Media: This includes newspapers, magazines, and other printed publications.
Broadcast Media: Comprising radio and television, these channels help disseminate information quickly.
Display Media: Encompassing billboards, hoardings, wall paintings, posters, and banners, these serve as visual communication tools.
Importance and role of Media in Disaster Management
Media plays a crucial role in disaster management by performing the following key functions:
Environmental Surveillance: This involves gathering and distributing information about climatic and environmental events. For instance, media can effectively disseminate details about cyclones, including the development of a depression over the sea, its trajectory, and the regions likely to be impacted.
Disaster Awareness and Education: Media serves as a vital tool for educating the public about disaster preparedness. Despite a literacy rate of only about 50% in India, a significant portion of the population has access to radio and television, making these platforms effective for spreading awareness.
Influence on Policy Formulation: Through public debates, surveys, and opinion polls, media contributes to shaping policies by reflecting public opinion and concerns.
Role of Media at Each Stage:
Preparation: Early warning; educating the public on various disaster components; reporting on initiatives and plans to address vulnerabilities.
Response: Immediate impact on affected areas; projecting core needs of communities and informing affected people where they can access aid; and tracking ongoing initiatives.
Recovery: Accountability in usage of aid; lessons to be learnt; success stories; sustainable construction practices and material usage in recovery; alternate livelihood options.
Mitigation: Reporting on and influencing larger policy and development agendas; connections to climate change. Mainstreaming DRR discussion and measures into topics such as water, construction, food security, health, livelihood and women and child welfare.
Thus, role of media in a disaster is multipurpose and can be broadly classified in three categories:
Informative
Suggestive
Analytical
Informative Role
Media can play informative role in all the three situations:
• Pre-disaster
• At the time of disaster
• Post-disaster
In a pre-disaster scenario, understanding the community’s vulnerability to disasters is essential. During the monsoon season, information such as rainfall forecasts, river water levels, flow rates, and potential embankment breaches is highly valuable for those residing in high-risk areas. Media can play a significant role in emphasizing crucial mitigation measures that communities in disaster-prone zones should adopt.
During a disaster, providing accurate information should be a journalist’s primary objective, requiring collaboration between local authorities and the media. However, officials may sometimes be unwilling or unable to share details due to security concerns, sensitivity, or a lack of confirmation. In such situations, journalists should rely on credible sources, relief organizations, or impartial local communities to ensure
the dissemination of accurate information to the public and national and international agencies. At the same time, media reporting should remain balanced to prevent unnecessary panic and the spread of misinformation.
In the aftermath of a disaster, the media plays a crucial role in delivering accurate information regarding the ongoing effects of the disaster and the genuine needs of the affected population. This ensures that rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts are planned effectively. Additionally, the media serves as a watchdog, monitoring the activities of various agencies involved in rehabilitation programs to ensure transparency and accountability.
Guidelines and Principles on Disaster Reporting
The media plays a critical role in informing the public during disasters and in promoting risk reduction behaviour during peace time. However, tight deadlines and the 24- hour news cycle amplify the pressure and the hunger for ‘exclusive’ updates. Images of death, disaster and destruction are powerful. So while journalists, photo-journalists and increasingly citizen journalists are tasked with providing the public with quick and accurate information as it develops; the reality is that it is usually only the dramatic components of disasters that make the front pages.
Reporting has also generally been confined to during and just after a disaster event (response and early recovery). There is little, if any, coverage, of risk reduction aspects during non- disaster times.
Key Principles
Understanding Disasters and Media’s Role: Develop a solid understanding of disasters and the critical role that media plays across each stage of the disaster cycle.
Accuracy: Ensure accuracy in every aspect of the reporting process
Balance: Strike a balance on the types of voices, positive stories, areas or regions covered and the tone of reporting.
Consistency And Collaboration: Work collaboratively with other media, government officials and NGOs.
Dignity: Treat all affected communities with the utmost respect and compassion.
Environment And Development: Go beyond major disaster events alone to look at climate change, environment, development and disaster risk reduction issues.
Follow-Up: Do follow-up stories in the months and years following a calamity.
Safety: Always prioritise your safety and that of the affected communities
Suggestive Role
In a disaster scenario, multiple mitigation strategies may be available, but identifying the most appropriate solution for a specific disaster can be challenging. For instance, flooding is a frequent natural disaster, particularly affecting states
like Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and West Bengal. In this regard, the media plays a vital role in offering relevant recommendations to garner political attention and enhance public awareness about the most effective solutions. Additionally, the media helps in monitoring activities that could potentially worsen the adverse effects of disasters.
During the rehabilitation and reconstruction phase, the media can facilitate expert opinions and solutions, such as:
Designing suitable housing models
Selecting appropriate building materials
Identifying ideal topographical locations for new construction
Providing guidelines on best practices and precautions in construction
Similarly, media can offer guidance on retrofitting weaker structures and buildings in earthquake-prone regions to enhance their resilience.
Analytical Role
The media's most crucial function is its analytical role, which can be applied to the evaluation of:
• Disaster preparedness
• Disaster mitigation
• Disaster relief
• Disaster rehabilitation
Each type of disaster has a preparedness plan in place. After a disaster occurs, it is essential to assess the effectiveness of these plans and derive lessons in a constructive manner to enhance future preparedness. Similarly, when different mitigation strategies are implemented by government and non-governmental organizations, the media can highlight both approaches and work towards achieving a balanced perspective. Successful strategies can then be replicated in other regions facing similar challenges.
The media's analytical role is particularly valuable in post- disaster rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts, such as those following landslides or earthquakes. A notable example is the rehabilitation of over 50 villages after the Latur earthquake. By sharing insights from various stakeholders on the successes and failures of such programs, the media helps authorities learn from past mistakes, ensuring they are not repeated in future disaster response efforts.
Recommendations
For the media to fill their role in disaster management most effectively, it is important that an institutional framework is drawn and established for closer working relationships between disaster management agencies and the media.
Strengthening Relationship and sharing resources: It is necessary that media foster still- closer linkages with
the hazard-mitigation community and share their vast information- gathering and transmission resources, when appropriate and available, with disaster-mitigation organizations.
Develop a basic code promoting cooperation among the media and Disaster Management Agency (DMA) agencies.
Plan and establish the National Emergency Alert System (NEAS), in line with EAS used in the USA for direct dissemination of public alerts and warnings from state and national level.
Direct Connectivity to Transmission stations: A more systematic statewide / national linkage with the media could improve early warning and can go to the next step in promoting an evacuation or alternative protective strategy.
Consider establishing a technological “information- exchange” mechanism, so that those centrally involved relief agencies and major networks can constantly cross- check the significance and usefulness of what is available and of what is around the next corner.
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Designate and train disaster journalists: Disaster journalism is a specialized area needing sensitization towards development of effective emergency communication or alerts. A new cadre of “Disaster correspondents,” just as many media today designate reporters to cover politics, financial markets, and other specific “beats” is the need of the hour.
• Constitute State Emergency Communication committee (SECC) with media included as members.
The media play a unique role in disaster mitigation. Although the aims of the media and those of disaster mitigation organizations are not synonymous, without compromising the independence and integrity of either, much can be done to communicate to the public the information that will help many save their own lives. There exists huge opportunity for the media and hazard specialists to work together to support mutual interests and, more important, to serve the world community by tangibly reducing the risks of natural and man-made hazards.