Bharat Raj Poudel IDRC14 Davos August 25 2014

“Developing a disaster management model of news making in Nepal”
How does Nepal Television (NTV) frame natural disasters? A
qualitative content analysis of news scripts using news frames and PPRR cycle.
5th International Disaster and Risk Conference IDRC 2014
‘Integrative Risk Management - The role of science, technology & practice‘ • 24-28 August 2014 • Davos • Switzerland
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Dr. Bharat Raj Poudel
Prof.Gerry Fitzgerald
Prof.Michele Clark
Adj.Prof. Meen Bahadur Poudyal Chhetri
Dr.Amisha Mehta
Centre for Emergency and Disaster Management
(CEDM), Queensland University of Technology
(QUT), Brisbane Australia. E-mail:
bharatraj.poudel@student.qut.edu.au

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Aim/purpose of the study
To Investigate portrayal of natural disasters by
Nepalese Media
(Nepal Television)
Throughout the continuum of News Frames
and,
PPRR (prevention, preparedness,
response and recovery) phases of
disaster management.

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Seeking Answers/Objectives
• How does NTV Portrays natural disasters
• What frames NTV use?
• How PPRR is followed?
• What about Effective role, Improving performance, Contributing
the DM/DRR through PPRR?
• Significant components required for framework
• Describe the current status
• Identify the significant issues associated with
• Determine the characteristics
• Develop a framework/socio-culturally and environmentally
appropriate for Nepal

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Nepal: Socio-economic and demography
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Nepal at a
glance
Area:
147,181 Square Km/ (0.03 % of the world
and 0.3% of Asia)
Mt Everest :
8848 meter(incl.8 out of 10 highest
mountains of the world are in Nepal)
Population:
27 million (2011)
Administrative division:
5 development regions,14 districts,130
municipalities, 3913(changed recently)
village development committees
Caste/ethnicity/religion :
125 castes/ethnic groups ,123 Languages.
Nepali speaking (44.6%)
Religion:
Hindu(81.3%),Buddhism (9%),Islam
(4.4%),Kirat (3.1%),Christianity (1.4%)
Source:CBS-2011

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Nepal: Socio-economic and demography
 Nepal's gross domestic product (GDP) for 2012 was estimated at
over $17.921 billion.
 In 2010, agriculture accounted for 36.1%, services comprise 48.5%,
and industry 15.4% of Nepal's GDP.
 Agriculture employs 76% of the workforce, services 18% and
manufacturing/craft-based industry 6%
Per capita Income – US $ 480
 25.4 % Below Poverty Line
 Life expectancy at birth – 68.8 years
 Pop. Living below $ 1.25 is about 79 %.
HDI- 157th among approx.200 countries
Sources: UNDP, 2011 & CBS, 2011 & HDI 2012
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Disaster trends and related deaths in Nepal
(1971-2010)
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Source: DesInventar,2011 & NSET,2011

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Natural disaster profile in Nepal
 12th in the human exposure to floods out of 162 countries.
 10th in occurrence of landslides, out of 162 countries.
 32nd for earthquake out of 153 countries.
 49th in drought hazard risk out of 184 countries.
 11th as a most at risk country in natural disaster.
 34th country to the economic loss caused by landslides, 73rd country to
the economic loss caused by earthquake and 64th for flood out of 164
countries.
 In the last 30 years about 30,000 people lost their lives in Nepal due to
all type of disasters.
 Annually 0.35 million people are affected in Nepal due to flood only.
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Sources: DesInventar 2011, CBS, 2011, MoHA, 2012, CRED, 2011

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Media landscape & Operations
• 350 radio stations Licensed (Around 300 in operation)
• 34 T.V stations licensed (10-12 active)
• Approx.50 online news portals (approx.15 from Nepal)
Television channels are privately owned.
Except Nepal TV and metro, which are owned by the govt.
Online- Private, institutional and government.
Government run National News Agency (RSS)- NTL feed.
The nodal authority is Press Council, Dept. of Info. (MOIC)
Professional organisations: Federation of
Nepalese Journalist (FNJ), Nepal Press Union (NPU),
Press Chautari, Editors Guild etc.
Print:
426 daily newspapers registered (10 broadsheets, highly circulated)
2000 weeklies registered (including institutional, NGO,INGO) (10-15)
24 half weeklies
408 fortnightlies (Including; Institutional, NGO, INGO)
Human Resource
8000 professional journalists/excl. volunteers and trainees.
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Sources:
MOIC (2011-12),Press Council(2011-12),FNJ, NPU,
DoIC(2012),CIA-World Fact Book(2012),CBS(2012),
(Adhikari,et al.,2011)

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Framing Theory & PPRR in DM/DRR Research
1. This theory was first introduced by Goffman in1974 and further strengthened
by Robert Entman, 1993 & Semetko & Valkanburg, 2000.
2. The purpose of using Framing theory in this research is to analyse various
disaster news for specific interpretation, evaluation and solution of disaster
events.
3. The theory was widely used to analysing media contents and news stories.
4. The analysis of media contents and news stories are based on five (5)
important frames.
5. These frames are: Human Interest, Conflict, Economic Consequences,
Morality, Responsibilities.
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Description of the News Frames
Human interest frame: This frame in the news story brings human face or
an emotional angle to the presentation of an event, issue or problem.
Conflict frame: It is used to know about the disagreement among the
individuals, groups, or organizations involved in the time of crisis.
Economic consequences frame: Economic consequences frame focuses
on negative or positive economic effects of the crisis.
Morality frame: Morality frame deals with the event, problem and issues
relating to morals, and religious beliefs.
Responsibility frame: Responsibility frame refers to the angle that who is to be
blamed for crisis. It is a way of attributing responsibility for a cause of solution among
the involving parties.
Source: Semetko and Valkenburg, 2000
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Existing barrier that prevents media to
contribute in disaster events
 Policies and frameworks are limited.
 The geographical terrain is unfavourable for media outlets.
 Lack of specialised journalism in disaster management.
However, disaster event are reported as general environmental issue.
 Lack of leadership capability in coordinating media professionals within the
NSDRM.
 Media reporting is primarily focused on politics, business and arts.
Disasters are reported under current affairs, environmental reporting
 Media’s are not well coordinated in the event of disasters’.
 Lack of financial allocation in disaster reporting.
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Statement of the Problem
 Nepal is a disaster prone country.
 Govt’s willingness to integrating media in disaster mgmt. is not in the
priority agenda.
 Focus of Nepalese media in disasters is limited compared to other
events.
 Information dissemination before, during and after disasters is
limited/disorganized way.
 Lack of policies and guidelines related to roles and responsibilities of
media in different stages of disasters.
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Gaps in the literature
1. Limited studies on media treatment for disaster
management.
2. Evidence pertaining to mitigating losses and dissemination of
information in disasters are limited.
3. Studies on the issue are primarily quantitative in nature.
4. A majority of studies are conducted in developed countries like
U.S., Japan and Australia.
5. In Nepal, existing studies on media coverage are focused on
politics, business, arts and technology.
6. Existing studies from Nepal and other countries have
methodological issues in analysing news contents and
stories.
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Relationship between PPRR Cycle, Media
Prevention
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PPRR CYCLE
Human Interest
Conflict
Economic
Consequences
Morality
Responsibility
Recovery Preparedness
Response
News
Frames
Coverage and News Frames
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Phase-1 (Qual. Content Analysis of NTV news)
A qualitative content analysis (deductive use of theory) of selected news
stories pertaining to natural disasters in Nepal will be conducted.
105 News stories pertaining to natural disasters for a period of 12 months (
April 2012 – March 2013) broadcasted in the Nepal television.
The news contents will be analysed under 5-frames of Framing theory and
PPRR cycle of disaster management.
Nepal Television Late night news
bulletin(In English)
First television of Nepal having wide viewership.
Hundreds of skilled journalists are involved across the
country including in the regional transmission. Nightly
news is round of all news broadcasted in Nepali language.
In this phase,
10.30 PM
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Findings and analysis of Content analysis of NTV news
NEPAL TELEVISION
(N=105) Apr
12
May
12
Jun
12
Jul
12
Aug
12
Sep1
2
Oct1
2
Nov
12
Dec
12
Jan
13
Feb
13
Mar
13
Yearly
Average
Headline National 2 5 4 2 3 9 2 0 1 0 2 1 2.64
Headline-
International 3 2 4 2 3 2 5 2 2 1 2 0 2.27
National (Nepal) 6 11 14 15 12 14 7 3 4 11 4 4 9.00
International 4 7 8 6 13 5 8 8 6 8 7 6 7.45
Total Word
Count/Month 603 1002 1241 1272 1765 1566 639 329 550 1243 335 269 928.27
No. of Story 6 11 14 15 12 14 7 3 4 11 4 4 99.00
Word Count /
Story
100.
50
91.
09
88.
64
84.
80
147.
08
111.
86
91.
29
109.
67
137
.50
113.
00
83.
75
67.
25 102.36
Total News in
Bulletin 508 516 542 584 596 563 521 509 571 581 539 570 553.82
News / Bulletin
16.
93
17.
20
18.
07
19.
47
19.
87
18.
77
17.
37
16.
97
19.
03
19.
37
17.
97
19.
00 18.46
PC(%) of Disaster
News 0.98 2.13 2.58 2.57 2.01 2.49 1.34 0.59 0.70 1.89 0.74 0.70 1.48
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Disaster types reported by NTV
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Frames and PPRR coverage
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News Frames/Analysis
• The human interest frame (78%)
• The responsibility frame (approximately 50%)
• Economic consequences are also reported in approximately 50%
• Vulnerability and risk (less than 40%)
• Conflict Frame (less than 20 %)
• Morality (less than 20 %)
• In almost 40% of stories, the category of “Other Frames” (40%) was
identified. These included warnings, instruction, reports, and exchange
of ideas, special occasions, memorial/anniversary awareness and
guidelines.
• Reported disasters mostly after its occurrence.
• Not surprisingly, this study found that the NTV emphasizes the response phase of PPRR cycle
• Human interest and responsibility frames were reported in terms of the focus of the news.
• Prevention phase is second most reported cycle (28 %).
• Preparedness is the least frequently reported (less than 20 %).
• Of all 105 new stories reported by NTV, 18 did not address the disaster management cycle in a noticeable way.
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PPRR Coverage /Coding
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News Frames/Coding
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Added value for the Post 2015 Framework for
Disaster Risk Reduction
• Addresses the implementation of the next phase of the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) in Nepal as it seeks to
streamline the development of plans along with the implementation and monitoring of HFA by 2015.However, media’s
real time information is limited.
• Effective news room management of NTV in response to the balanced reporting throughout PPRR cycle, It is important to
develop a policy in collaboration with Telecommunication, Media and Journalists for effectively using the reach of media
and telecommunication network for information collection, sharing and dissemination for the communities at risk (ISDR,
2013).
• Contribute to the actions taken Nepal government and the United Nations office for disaster risk reduction (UNISDR)
using government media like NTV to upgrade DisInventar data collection system, information sharing and prominence to
be given during the PPRR cycle. For example, limited reporting in response to preparedness implies that there are fewer
• Preparedness activities going on and these trends are impacting on comprehensive PPRR efforts for disaster management
as well. The results of this study will contribute to the limited number of media content studies on the portrayal of
natural disasters and enable citizens to better prepare for, prevention of, respond to and recover from disasters.
• Acknowledging a Joint Civil Society Position on Post-2015 Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction held in Switzerland
highlighted the strengths and shortcomings of the current HFA(HFA/UNISDR, 2014b).
• NTV needs to be more effective in reporting disasters in a balanced way and disaster management programs and policies
need to be focused mostly on human interest, responsibility and economic consequences related issues by suggesting
increase in preparedness and mitigation activities.
• Important to recall these attributes when developing a post-2015 DRR Framework which has been realised in the
member countries of the United Nations. (HFA/UNISDR, 2014a).
• Preliminary consultative meeting of UNISDR, held in Geneva in 2007 focussed on the influence of mass media as being a
powerful force in policy change and, together with other stakeholders, bridging the information gap between
communities and governments.
• Therefore, NTV news reporting patterns suggest the urgency of focussing disaster management media strategies on the
frames identified. From this point of view, the media sector plays a key role to integrate disaster issues into the
mainstream development processes of the present world (Collins, 2009).
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Final Thoughts
• Provides some initial lessons for government, community and
media to help improve the framing of disaster messages.
• Significantly, the research highlights the prominence that should be given to flood,
landslides, lightning and earthquake related disasters firstly by addressing the
problem suggested in the news frames used by Nepal Television.
This includes,
1) Emphasis on disaster types, and emerging frames
2) Prominence of disaster planning coverage using balanced approach
throughout PPRR
3) Disaster response news is on the rise. Generally, reporting is focused more
on the response phase, whereas the government press releases
(information) are focused on the planning phase Therefore, the media,
communities, government and agencies should act accordingly for the
formulation of news making model which can ensure balanced and
effective reporting. This message can be well incorporated in the NTV
news by enhancing the impact of disaster responses.
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References
• Adhikari, D., Pokhrel, J., KC, S., & Rai, B. (2011). The media in the news 2010:An assessment report in the context of Nepal's post conflict
transiotion(with South-central Asian trends). Kathmandu: Media Foundation Nepal
• Aryal, K. R. (2007). Mapping Disaster Vulnerability from Historical Data in Nepal. Northumbria University, UK: Disaster and Development Centre.
• Collins, A. E. (2009). Disaster and development (Vol. 8): Routledge.
• Crondstedt, M. (2002). Prevention, Preparedness, Response, Recovery- an outdated concept? Australian Journal of Emergency Management, 17(2),
10-13.
• Entman, R. M. (1993). Framing: Toward clarification of a fractured paradigm. Journal of Communication, 43(4), 51-58.
• Entman, R. M. (2003). Cascading Activation: Contesting the White House's Frame After 9/11. Political Communication, 20(4), 415-432. doi:
10.1080/10584600390244176
• Goffman, E. (1974). Frame analysis:An Essay on the organization of experience: Harvard University Press Cambridge, MA.
• Gurung, R. (2011). Journalism in Transition:Media, Information Flows and Conflict in Nepal: International Alert-(IfP-EW).
• HFA/UNISDR. (2014a). Consultations on the post-2015 framework for disaster risk reduction. Paper presented at the Third United Nations World
Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction Preparatory Committee, Geneva.
• HFA/UNISDR. (2014b). Joint Civil Society Position on Post-2015 Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. Paper presented at the Civil Society Forum in,
Geneva.
• ISDR. (2013). HFA monitoring and review through a multi stakeholder engagement process 2013:HFA Monitor Template of Nepal.
• Leoni, B. (2011). Disaster Through A different Lens:A guide for journalists covering disaster risk reduction: UNITED Nations(UNISDR).
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AEJMC Convention, AEJMC Convention,Public Relations Division,Washington, D.C.
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10.1108/13632540910976707
• Lowery, S., & DeFleur, M. (1995). Milestones in Mass Communication Research: Media Effects: Longman.
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coverage of the 2003 SARS epidemic in China. China Media Research, 4(1), 19-28.
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• MoHA-Nepal-Government, & DPNET-Nepal. (2013). Nepal Disaster Report 2013. In R. C. Neupane, L. P. Dhakal, K. B. Dhungana, K. R. Kaphle, P. K.
Koirala & S. S. Jnavaly (Eds.). Kathmandu: Ministry of Home Affairs and DPNET Nepal.
• Semetko, H. A., & Valkenburg, P. M. (2000). Framing European politics: a content analysis of press and television news. Journal of Communication,
50(2), 93-109. doi: 10.1111/j.1460-2466.2000.tb02843.x
• Siebert, F. S., Peterson, T., & Schramm, W. (2000). Four theories of the press: The authoritarian, libertarian, social responsibility, and Soviet
communist concepts of what the press should be and do (1902,1956 ed.). N.Straford,NH,USA: Ayer Company Publishers,Inc.
•
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C l i c k t o e d i t c o m p a n y s l o g a n .
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Bharat Raj Poudel IDRC14 Davos August 25 2014

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Bharat Raj Poudel IDRC14 Davos August 25 2014