The role of the print media in earthquake risk communication: Information available between 1996 and 2014 in Turkish newspapers

Abstract

Although individual preparedness plays a critical role in overall preparedness for earthquakes, people are not usually keen to adopt mitigation and preparedness measures. One of the reasons for this is that they lack information about how to cope with an earthquake at individual level. Newspapers are among the many sources of information. This study aims to understand how earthquakes and earthquake preparedness are depicted in Turkish newspapers by analysing the frequency and content of the related news published in six daily newspapers between 1996 and 2014, covering the periods before and after the 1999 earthquakes in Turkey. A total of 16.193 news items were identified and assessed. The findings show that earthquake-related news in the selected newspapers was largely about what was happening at the time, the impact of the earthquakes and response and recovery activities. Earthquake preparedness only received limited coverage. Even though earthquake-related news items reached a peak after major earthquakes, the indications are that the information provided in the newspapers could not have had a direct role in risk communication or, as a result, in changing people's behaviour.