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What “Emergency Sources” Expect From Journalists: Applying the Hierarchy of Influences Model to Disaster News Coverage

Year: 2021

Type: article

Abstract: This study analyzes what “emergency sources” (authorities, emergency managers, and experts) expect from journalists during a disaster, using a mixed-method approach with six focus groups and a survey of 166 official Chilean sources. Based on the first three levels of the hierarchy of influences model, we explore how they perceive journalists’ roles and performance when covering disasters. The results suggest that emergency sources’ evaluations, while affected by a combination of individual, routine, and organizational variables, are mostly shaped by sources’ direct and mediated experience with journalists. Thus, a more fluid relationship between journalists and emergency sources, as well as more communication experience by sources, could lead to a better understanding between both groups, which, ultimately, may lead to delivering more accurate and timely information.

Source: International journal of communication

Authors: Daniela Grassau, Sebastián Valenzuela, Soledad Puente

Institution: Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

Language: English

Topic: Public Relations and Crisis Communication

Subfield: Communication

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: diamond

OpenAlex ID: W3130627817

FWCI: 1.225

Cites: 41

Cited by: 6

Related to: 10