News Media in Times of Emergency



News Media in Times of Emergency

Introduction

Information is of key significance plays and important during and crisis situation. The crisis and emergency situations call for timely and effective response which itself heavily relies upon correct flow of accurate information. The importance of accurate and timely information to individuals, organizations and government, especially in the times of crisis and emergencies, is growing rapidly. The need to understand the role information plays in almost every aspects of life, has increased more than ever now. As a famous say goes, “information is a power”. It determines the ways people communicate these days and it deeply impacts the decision making process and the way we react to a given situation or incident.

But, unfortunately, crisis and emergency situations are often characterized by inaccurate and more-than-needed or, sometimes less-than-needed and ambiguous information that needs to be verified and clarified in order to make an effective decision aimed at managing emergencies and crisis situations. It is during emergencies and crises that one is badly in need of accurate information to answer some critical questions that one might be struggling to seek answers of. These questions possibly seek information about the nature of crisis or emergency, its origin, the scope of emergency and its possible impact. Peoples' questions are remained unanswered in majority of the cases when an emergency occurs.

Since natural and human initiated crisis are beginning to occur more frequently in recent times, the phenomenon has also resulted in increased importance of the role national news media can play in disseminating accurate and timely information to the people and government which will aid in authorities' effort to effectively manage the crisis. This paper is aimed at exploring the role of national news media during emergency situations. The paper also attempts to assess whether media bias plays any part in such situations and whether media adds to peoples' fear.

Discussion

Emergency and News Media

The frequency of natural disasters and those that were caused by humans has dramatically increased during the last century. According to a report of United Nations, more than 15, 000 disasters have struck humanity in the 20th century with almost one third of the these disasters occurring in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. These disasters and emergencies include natural calamities such as hurricane Katrina and Rita, terrorists attack and other incidents such as the nuclear disaster at Japan's Fukushima Plant. The role of news media in communicating effective and accurate information during and after these emergencies cannot be underestimated as accurate and timely information is something that is of utmost importance in such situation in order to manage the crisis and to contain its effects.

There were many instances when news media the much sought and much needed information which helped effectively managing the effects of a crisis. Whether it was, hurricanes Katrina or Rita, tsunami in the Indian Ocean, September 11 attack on twin towers of world trade center or the bombing at London subway system, ...