Journalistic approach of hydro-geomorphological events in the beginning of the industrial press

Abstract

In contemporary societies the media is oriented to cover disaster considering the intersection between three dimensions of risk: hazard, exposure and vulnerability. In the past, the prevailing theory was the naturalization of disasters that considered disasters as extreme events generated by the nature, where human action did not influence disaster occurrences and consequences. In view of the predominant theory of the nature of disasters, the objective of this work is to analyze the approach of journalism on disasters in the early 20th century. This research explores a catalogue of hydro-geomorphological events selected from the Disaster database for the period 1865–1909, which were reported by the Portuguese newspaper Diário de Notícias (DN). News analysis was guided by the News Protocol. The news set highlighted the naturalization of disasters, the focus on post-disaster consequences and local correspondents as the main source reporting disaster occurrences in the territory.

Introduction

The Sendai framework for disaster risk reduction (2015–2030) priority 1 is devoted to understanding disaster risk. In this priority, policies and practices for disaster risk management should be based on all dimensions of disaster risk (vulnerability, capacity, exposure of persons and assets, hazard characteristics and the environment). Current approaches to disasters emphasize the social and economic characteristics of exposed communities, which accentuate or reduce the risk of loss and damage caused by hazards [1]). In contemporary societies the discussion of disasters is frequently focused on the consequences and social impacts, moving away from the focus on physical processes functioning.

The press is a major source of disasters information influencing and shaping how the population and the decision-makers observe, perceive and respond to hazards and disasters [2,3]. This means that media is intrinsically connected to risk and disaster communication and is an essential component of disaster mitigation planning, response and recovery [4].

The process of collecting and presenting news and information events that have occurred, are occurring, or may occur in the future, is defined as disaster journalism [4]. There are manuals for communicators that cover disaster events, and these are anchored by the intersection between three risk dimensions: hazard, exposure and vulnerability. The United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) guides journalists to report the causes of the disaster, not just describing the facts and impacts [5]. Their social dimensions must be addressed, so that communities understand what makes them vulnerable and what actions can expand their capacities to deal with disasters. In addition, there is a concern to prevent the naturalization of disasters by the media, which should contribute to create a culture of prevention and not just a culture of reaction.

This theoretical, conceptual and methodological context to understand a disaster was developed in the last 50 years. According to the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) a disaster is a serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society at any scale due to hazardous events interacting with conditions of exposure, vulnerability and capacity, leading to one or more losses and impacts (human, material, economic and environmental) [1]. Nowadays, disasters are mainly a socioeconomic phenomenon, understood as manifestations of unresolved development problems. Although in the past, the prevalent theory was the naturalization of disaster that considered disasters as extreme events generated by the nature, where human action had no influence on the disasters occurrence and consequences.

In the past, according to the theory of naturalization of disasters, the impacts were considered more important than the causes of the events. How did this theory guide news reporting? Did the news address the context of the disaster and why did it happen? Did the news describe the responses to the events? And how did people react to it?

To answer these questions, we aim at analyzing the disaster journalism's approach in the early 20th century and propose a news analysis and categorization protocol for damaging floods and landslides. Our research explores a specific period (1865–1909) of a catalogue of hydro-geomorphological events selected from the Disaster database [6,7]. This database is available for the period 1865–2015 and its data sources were daily and weekly newspapers published since 1865 at the national and regional levels. Disaster database includes human consequences (fatalities, injuries, missing people, evacuated and displaced people) caused by flood and landslide cases occurred in Portugal [6].

Faced with flood and landslide events of different magnitudes, other issues are present in the journalistic coverage of this period. Was the importance given by the journalistic reporting equivalent to the magnitude of the disaster events? Was the number of event fatalities a criterion for news publishing? Did the widespread distribution of the event in the country control the number of news reports? What is the association between the magnitude of the events and the dimension of the report (space occupied in the newspaper?)

The research period (1865–1909) was selected due to the political context that was marked by the end of monarchy in Portugal, and the beginning of the industrial press with the foundation of the Diário de Notícias in 1865, one of the oldest daily newspapers in Portugal. In addition, a wide variety of hydro-geomorphological events with different processess (floods and landslides) and magnitude occurred during this period, including one extreme event in December 1909, which recorded the highest number of occurrences in the complete disaster database [8]. Therefore, this period alllows to analyze news coverage for disaster events with different characteristics, in terms of magnitude of the physical process, number of human damages and disruptions in the society.

In addition, the research period was marked by the exposure increase of the Portuguese population due to improvement in transports. Between 1850 and 1910 about 15,000 km of roads and 3000 km of railway lines were built, which changed the Portuguese way of traveling [9]. At the time, only 17% of the population lived in urban centers over 5000 inhabitants, and Portugal was a rural country with the economy based on the primary sector of activity [9].