Local Media and Disaster Reporting in Japan

Abstract

Japan has a long history of devastating disasters, but it also has a strong tradition of media organizations striving to contribute to resilience. The local media plays a crucial role in this process as it provides important micro-level information related, e.g., to survivors, lifeline services, and reconstruction (Hiroi, 2000; Yamada, 2004). While studies concerning 'Western' countries have often emphasized the strict news value-orientation and short attention span of media covering disasters, Japanese literature largely focuses on how reporting provides affected publics with vital information and thereby contributes to mitigation (Oda, 1997; Shigyō, 2011; Yamada, 2013). This seems to be the case especially on the local level where media organizations actively take on the perspective of the victims and continue reporting on a long- term basis (Rausch, 2015; Meissner, 2018). The professional role Japanese journalists have adopted, studies have found, is shaped by often extremely close relationships between reporters and their sources, a pattern that originates from traditional local reporting in Japan (Hayashi and Kopper, 2014). The consequence of such close relationships is a grassroots perspective of the journalists who often share with their audiences the same social environment, the same problems and experiences. When covering disasters, reporters often draw from these close-knit local networks and try to directly support citizens affected by disaster (Meissner, 2018). Several examples of this kind of reporting could be witnessed during the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster of 2011, which has received extensive attention by media and journalism scholars inside and outside Japan. Subsequently, this chapter will outline in more detail the factors that influence disaster reporting of local media in Japan. As a first step, it is necessary to understand how the respective media markets in Japan are structured and why the newspaper, often considered the epitome of 'legacy media,' still plays a crucial role for local reporting in Japan.