Newspaper reporting in the wake of the 1995 spring floods in northern California.

Bibliography: p. 10-11

Field surveys were conducted within the first week after the California floods were first reported over national television. This study investigated newspaper reporting of the disaster. It looked at the differences in coverage at different media levels (local, state, regional and national). Through their news-gathering and editing processes, news media impose a spatial bias on how a news event is perceived. A widespread natural disaster may appear to be concentrated in certain limited areas, reflecting editorial decisions rather than true concentrations in these areas. Use of a Geographic Information System (GIS) allows for the identification of these patterns. The California floods of January, 1995 serve as a case study of this phenomenon. The first disaster in the state's history to encompass all fifty-eight counties, the floods held national headlines for the better part of a week. Content analysis was performed on newspaper coverage of the flood event and maps were created to compare these results with actual damage totals and locations, revealing significant discrepancies. It is argued that since short-term responses to disasters are influenced by perceptions created by the media, an awareness of this influence can result in more equitable distribution of resources throughout the disaster area. It is further argued that maps represent the best means of communicating the spatial extent of a disaster, and as such, maps should receive equal billing with text and photographs in the newspaper layout