Role of Media and Its Effects Research Paper

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Role of Media in Disasters

The Role of Media in Affecting Public Perception of Hurricane Katrina 'Victims'

Research conducted in the 1950s and 1960s has effectively demonstrated that the general public tends to respond to both local and national disasters in an orderly and compassionate way marked specifically by the desire of individuals to help those in need. This viewpoint contrasts sharply with the ways in which disasters, and those affected by disaster, are portrayed by the media. Tierney and colleagues' (2006) article "Metaphors Matter: Disaster Myths, Media Frames, and their Consequences in Hurricane Katrina" illustrates that the public draws much of its information about ongoing disasters from media outlets which both create and perpetuate a series of negative myths which do nothing to alleviate the suffering of those directly impacted by disaster. Hurricane Katrina serves as a strong example of the manner in which a media framework can directly affect both the public response to disaster and the larger policy issues that underlie disaster management.

For those on the outside looking in, namely anyone who wasn't directly impacted by Hurricane Katrina, the events in Louisiana may have initially seemed like the beginnings of an urban war in which individuals were divided not only by the dire consequences of the natural disaster but by issues of race and class.

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As a media event, Hurricane Katrina was constructed as one in which the worst behaviors of human beings rose to the forefront. While Tierney and colleagues (2006) note that the media provided many valuable services, including connecting loved ones with each other and providing up-to-date information about rescue services, the media also helped to turn rumors and innuendos concerning looting, rape, and general lawlessness into 'established' fact by the sheer virtue of this 'information' being reported by reputable news sources. In its quest for sensationalized stories in an already sensational situation, the media contributed to representations of hurricane victims as either "marauding thugs' out to attack both fellow victims and emergency responders or as helpless refugees from the….....

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