Destination Recovery Services

Helping the travel industry PREPARE for and RECOVER from disaster.

The Role of the Media

The media plays a very important role in informing the public of disasters and disseminating warnings. Within the context of tourism destination recovery, the role the media plays is critical in determining the longevity of the economic impacts of the disaster. Unfortunately, the suffering and mortality caused by a disaster are often considered much more newsworthy than are the recovery and redevelopment updates. Faulkner (2001) proposed that the impacts of disasters are often out of proportion with the actual damage because of exaggeration by the media, noting that disaster situations provide fertile ground for misinformation because communications disruptions combine with publication deadlines to inhibit the verification of reports, while the ratings game fosters sensationalism. He writes, “The role of media in disaster management strategies can be crucial to such an extent that it might make the difference between whether or not a difficult situation evolves into a disaster.” (Faulkner, 2001, p. 141)

In the case of the Izmit, Turkey earthquake, the media coverage painted a picture of Turkish devastation, even reporting that central Istanbul was badly damaged. Although the reports were later revised when the actual extent of devastation was realized, the effects were immediate with cancellations pouring in from all key source markets (Bierman, 2003). This type of media attention has also been blamed for slowing the recovery phase of the Palestinian—Israeli conflict and giving the public the impression that Israel was enmeshed in violence at an important time for pilgrimage tourism in 2000 and 2001 (Ritchie, 2004). Faulkner (2001) proposes that the media can actually hinder recovery by spreading misinformation and distracting emergency personnel from their duties. He found that in the Andover, Kansas tornado disaster, damage control in the media occupied 20 per cent of the emergency operation center staff’s time.

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