earticle

영어

This study compared news coverage of national and international disasters, Hurricane Katrina and the Haiti Earthquake, using textual analysis of The New York Times and The Washington Post. The results reveal that media framing of the historical cases developed in three stages upon the development of post-disaster relief: (1) Call for humanitarian assistance; (2) New Orleans under anarchy and hopelessness vs. Haiti under scrutiny with hope; and (3) Katrina effects. By framing the outcomes of the hurricane as the “Katrina effect,” the media used the disaster as a reference point to explain other economic and political issues. In addition, analysis of relevant statements and press releases confirmed that different social actors involved in the relief process, such as donors, facilitators, and beneficiaries, contributed to the media framing of the issue, although the facilitators were most successful in transferring their own frames to media frames. This study makes important contributions to the field as it looks beyond traditional relationships between quantitative measures of media attention and aid allocation. For governmental and nongovernmental organizations in the area of humanitarian assistance, the findings of this study will assist them in media-relations in the future.