Typhoon Yolanda/Haiyan and disaster reporting

N.B. – A graduate student from the UP College of Mass Communication requested me to answer a few questions on disaster reporting using Typhoon Yolanda/Haiyan as a case study. Here are my short answers.

In a general sense, how was the news of storm surges reported/communicated by mainstream news media outfits? How did they define the aforesaid phenomenon?

In the absence of content analysis on my part, I can only provide anecdotal evidence (mainly from what I had observed) to support the following points with regard to disaster reportage:

  1. Coverage does not usually depart from the dominant media’s preference for the trivial and the sensational, using phrases like survivors “walking like zombies” and allowing reporters to be in the center of the news as in the case of how a broadcast network framed one of its reporters as “the boy in the rain.”
  2. While it is commendable for the dominant media to report on government efforts, as well as initiatives from the private sector, there is lack of contextualization as regards relevant issues like corruption in times of disaster and reducing some officials’ negligence and incompetence to a “blame game.” The latter does not help audiences appreciate the problem as more structural than personal. What proves to be more dangerous here is that the media could end up adhering, albeit unconsciously, to the government pronouncements without carefully reading between the lines and comparing them to the reality on the ground.
  3. With regard to coverage by the alternative media, there are efforts to magnify the extent of the damage not only in terms of coming up with human interest stories but also in terms of analyzing the bigger social context. The weakness, however, is the inherent limited reach.
  4. As in the past, the Manila-based news media organizations have a tendency to send their more famous journalists to cover disasters happening in places like Tacloban even if there are community journalists who can do a better job given their familiarity not only with the language but also with the culture in the area. Apparently, the news media organizations are more concerned with the ratings that Manila-based ones can provide compared to the community-based ones.
  5. To be specific about Typhoon Yolanda/Haiyan, the dominant media had the tendency to focus only on Tacloban even if there were other areas hit by the so-called super typhoon even if in varying degrees. There were attempts by the alternative media to report on other areas but these were not enough. Aside from limited reach, alternative media also have to contend with limited resources.

Do you think that their reportage of the phenomenon is clear and effective?

Yes and no. The first applies to the alternative media; the second, dominant media. Of course, clarity and effectivity need to be further operationalized as reportage is far from being consistent (or perfect) based on the points raised previously.

What are your insights regarding disaster reportage? Do you think that the media’s reportage of Typhoon Yolanda qualifies as effective disaster news coverage?

The dominant media can learn from the manner of reportage of the alternative media, in the same way that the latter can also adopt best practices from the former in terms of connecting with the audience. But it must be clarified that the dominant media’s “best practices” refer to the ones that adhere to the highest professional and ethical standards, like the use of footage to explain the issues and popularizing abstract terms for better understanding.

How do you think the media can improve in their reporting of disasters and imminent hazards?

It is necessary to remove the trappings of commercialism in reporting the news to ensure that there will be no trivialization and sensationalism in reportage. Of course, it also follows that journalism should be treated as a continuing education program so that training and re-tooling would become second nature to the operations of a news media organization.

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