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BRMA |
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Northern California's largest business recovery association |
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Bad Tidings: Communications and Catastrophe
by Lynne Masel Walters, Lee Wilkins, Tim Walters (1988, 198 pages) In the 1970s, a book collecting research about the mass media and their role in disasters would have been unimaginable. Five years ago it would have been almost impossible to compile. With just a few noteworthy exceptions, including work by Henry Quarantelli and Joseph Scanlon, both of whom are contributors to this volume, the entire field of disaster- media research has developed in just the past few years. Indeed, this mushrooming research development is one of the reasons for this book. Although much of the work in "disaster studies" was begun by sociologists and geographers, psychologists and communications scholars in recent years have assumed a more dominant role. The result is a variety of research informed by different disciplines with different theoretical frames. The debates in disaster research now range not only between those who study "natural" as opposed to "technological" hazards, but between different epistemological approaches, some of which treat the mass media as tangentially important, whereas others view the media as a major player in the hazard mitigation game. This book, then, is an attempt to compile a somewhat eclectic view of research on mass communication and catastrophe. The editors have attempted to provide a sampling of the most recent empirical work on the mass media and disasters, including everything from content analysis of media reports to studies of audience response to those events. Imbedded in this research, most of it informed by the various social science disciplines, is an attempt at theory building, at least as theory may be used to link empirical observations with a more predictive view. In this sense, this volume is of interest to students of mass communication, sociology, geography, and political science who seek to link the mass media with broader questions of human behavior. However, mass communications scholarship has another side - one that owes an epistemological debt to the humanities. This branch of mass communications research focuses on issues of textual interpretation, popular culture, and ethical questions surrounding the issues of human life that disasters and their aftermath throw into sharp relief. Essays representing this branch of disaster studies also are incorporated in this reader. They reflect the editors' beliefs that it is not only social science that is capable of providing insight into human and institutional behavior. The goal of the book, then, is to allow readers to begin the work of developing an integrated understanding of communication and catastrophe. The chapters in this volume were selected, in part, because they speak to each other. And, although the editors have begun the work of integration in a concluding note, it is their belief that the central work remains one of integration, a task for readers as well as researchers.
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