Communication Challenges in Connection with Catastrophes and States of Emergency

Nohrstedt, Stig Arne

doi:10.1515/nor-2017-0377

Cited by 9 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Similar to crisis communication research, scholars studying the role of the media in crisis have foremost been preoccupied with the media's role in allocating responsibility in evaluating crisis management responses (Buus and Olsson, 2006;Coombs, 2004;Garnett and Kouzmin, 2007;Perko et al, 2012). In instances where scholars have paid attention to aspects that lie beyond responsibility framing, such as the media's tendency to prioritize entertainment over explanations, preferences for human interest stories and reliance on specific event-driven frames have been done from an information perspective related to how 'media logic' gives obscure knowledge about deeper structural causes (Fung et al, 2011;Miller and Goidel, 2009;Nohrstedt, 2000;Scanlon, 2007;Tracy, 2012). Hence, previous research in the field has produced interesting findings in regard to responsibility dynamics, yet there is a lack of research exploring the role of journalistic styles and standards in shaping the preconditions for political actors to deliver their strategic messages in times of crises.…”

Section: News Coverage Of Crisesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Paving the way for crisis exploitation: The role of journalistic styles and standards

Olsson

Nord

2014

Journalism

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Crises tend to be crucial political events with the ability to determine the public’s faith in political actors. If well managed, crises provide windows of opportunities for political actors to show action, strengthening credibility and pushing through new policies. This article explores one such instance of successful crisis exploitation: the Swedish government’s management of the financial crisis in 2008. During the worst turbulence, the government was able to successfully frame the event, without being challenged by contrasting frames, as a crisis managed with great competence and in the best interest of ordinary citizens. We explain this phenomenon through journalistic styles and standards. The article concludes by discussing the findings where we propose that issue framing, in combination with descriptive journalism, contributes to portraying political actors as credible crisis managers rather than tactical politicians, with the result being that they appear more trustworthy and competent. Moreover, due to unbalanced coverage, actors who are framed as competent crisis managers succeed in further strengthening their positions.

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Section: News Coverage Of Crisesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Paving the way for crisis exploitation: The role of journalistic styles and standards

Olsson

Nord

2014

Journalism

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“…In the literature on 'extraordinary events', there are several different concepts in circulation, such as 'what-a-story' (Tuchman 1973;Berkowitz 1992) 2 , 'holy-shit story' (Romano 1986), 'gee-whiz story' (Gans 2004: 156-157), 'crisis' (Nohrstedt 2000), and 'disaster' (Scanlon 2007;Quarentelli 2005). The pluralism of concepts is a problem in that it hampers efforts to build up more systematic knowledge about how news media cope with these non-routine events.…”

Section: Lack Of Concepts and Definitionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is the case because the reasons for examining news media in connection with extraordinary events differ. The literature on disasters/crises deals with how the media report on situations characterized as crisis events from a socio-political perspective (see, e.g., Nohrstedt 2000;Quarantelli 1996;1989;. However, these events might well be routine reporting for the media.…”

Section: Lack Of Concepts and Definitionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Defining Crisis News Events

Olsson

2010

Nordicom Review

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Research on news organizations' handling of 'what-a-story's proposes that journalists find routines for handling these events based on their previous experiences of similar situations. Still, conceptual discussions on how to define extraordinary events or 'what-a-story's have thus far attracted limited interest. In response, the present article proposes a definition of 'what-a-story's in order to provide an understanding of what events become a part of news organizations' historical case banks. Accordingly, the aim of the article is to present a definition of crisis news events from an organizational perspective, which can help distinguish critical news events of importance to news organizations' learning and preparedness. The article argues that crisis news are to be understood as surprise events that challenge key organizational values and demand a swift response. Based on interviews with Swedish broadcasting media managers, the article illustrates how the September 11 th terror attacks can be defined as a crisis event.

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“…In an emergency, the demand for information rises quickly and dramatically, as citizens and the news media turn to public authorities for information and advice (Nohrstedt 2000). Questions quickly multiply regarding the causes of the emergency, the level of danger to the public, and what can be done to avoid harm (Sly 2000).…”

Section: Evaluating Local Emergency Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating Local Government Emergency Management Programs: What Framework Should Public Managers Adopt?

Henstra

2010

Public Administration Review

140

112

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Local governments play a key role in emergency management by developing the necessary policies and concrete procedures for responding eff ectively to community emergencies and their aftermath. However, because emergency measures in most jurisdictions are rarely, if ever, activated, public managers fi nd it diffi cult to evaluate and assess the quality of existing emergency management programs. Drawing on expert literature to identify 30 elements of a high-quality local emergency management program, key elements are refi ned and synthesized into a single framework that provides clearcut best practices for emergency program evaluation and performance measurement.

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Communication Challenges in Connection with Catastrophes and States of Emergency

Cited by 9 publications

References 8 publications

Paving the way for crisis exploitation: The role of journalistic styles and standards

Paving the way for crisis exploitation: The role of journalistic styles and standards

Defining Crisis News Events

Evaluating Local Government Emergency Management Programs: What Framework Should Public Managers Adopt?

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