Flood and the role of the media

Role of the media

Media plays an important role in flood awareness, whether sharing safety, preparedness or emergency warnings, information on relief measures, or updates around recovery.

The media disseminates information from authorities to the community. Often it fills the knowledge gap between emergency authorities and the public – essential for raising awareness of an extreme weather event.

The media’s role is also nuanced as it has an obligation to provide accurate and measured information, while simultaneously breaking down complex content and data for the public.

Understanding disaster management arrangements in Queensland provides insight into the chain of responsibilities and activities by authorities during an emergency.

Knowing where to get the most current disaster information ensures the media can report accurately while meeting their own priorities and deadlines.

As the primary source of information for many during a disaster, media is influential in the community’s perception of what is happening during an event and whether they have confidence in the emergency authorities responding to it.

At times there is a fine line between reporting news and creating news and it is in everyone’s best interests – community, authorities and media – that correct information is available to avoid any misinterpretation or sensational reactions at a time of crisis.

Impact of media reporting on the community

During an emergency, the community expects media reporting to be timely, clear, accurate and reliable.

Consistent with these expectations, the public will choose a media source based on the quality of the information, the manner in which it is presented, and its timely availability.

Community vs Audience

Understanding the audience when reporting on an emergency is crucial.

There are communities who are living the emergency, and there is the rest of the audience who want to know about the emergency.

Frequent and tight deadlines provide a level of pressure on news reporting that is often not helpful to the community living through the emergency.

The workflow and structure of disaster management authorities in Queensland means new information won’t be available on the hour, every hour.

Alternative sources of information through interviews on the ground give the fresh updates media outlets and audiences want.

Often in these circumstances the interviewee provides new information or very specific details of an event that may not be confirmed or even known by the emergency authorities.

A benefit of media being in an impacted community during an emergency is they can relay information from the ground to relevant authorities.

Interviews with people directly experiencing the disaster should be done with the understanding this is an individual’s experience, and that experience has been traumatic.

Reporters need to be mindful of their presence, making sure it’s not intrusive and does not add to a person’s distress.

Take, rather than give guidance, from any interviewee following a disaster event.

Working together in a disaster

Although going about their work in different ways, emergency authorities and the media have one common goal: helping impacted community.

Authorities need the media to get information to the community and the media relies on authorities to get correct and reliable information for the wider public.

Recognising the benefits of both sources of information will ensure the best outcomes for people impacted directly by severe weather.

Further information is available from the UNDRR Disaster Risk Reduction Media Hub at:
https://drrhub.org/

Flood myths and misconceptions

There are a lot of misconceptions about floods. Whether it’s how often floods happen or where they happen, each flood is unique in size, direction and duration.

Here are a few important facts for media to consider when reporting on floods:

• "One in 100 year flood" terminology is generally unhelpful for communicating with the public about flood risk.  Extreme floods can happen at any time. In Australia new buildings are usually built above the 100-year flood level. This is not a flood which happens once every 100 hundred years but one which has a 1 in 100 or 1% chance of occurring in each and every year. In a 70 year lifetime there is a 50/50 chance of a 1 in 100 flood being exceeded at any location. In fact, given the wet and dry phases that occur in many regions of Australia, these events are likely to be clustered in time.
• Location - Floods bigger than those we have experienced in the past are inevitable. While there may be no living memory or formal record of a property flooding, it doesn’t mean the land has not flooded in past centuries or that it won’t flood in years to come.

Learn more about flood myths to help you and your readers to understand what it means when we talk about a "one-in-100-year flood" and other common misconceptions about flooding including  flooding of properties that have never flooded before, flooding of properties on hills, sandbags, dams, levees, and flooding during drought seasons.