An Ethical Code for Disaster Journalism

Abstract

Climate change is gradually changing the contours of global climate, leading to significant changes in weather patterns across the world. Global warming is making glaciers recede and melt faster, causing the sea levels to rise alarmingly. Scientists have also found empirical evidence of changes in seasonal rainfall patterns. These changes in global weather have led to an increase in the frequency and scale of extreme weather events in almost every part of the world. As the global community grapples with its increasingly debilitating impact on the sustainability of human life and economic and development processes, they have made it imperative for media institutions worldwide to launch effective community disaster mitigation and preparedness strategies in disaster-prone zones. The recent climate-related disaster incidents have witnessed a relatively greater media attention with reporters being deployed in large numbers in disaster-affected zones. This has brought the complexities of gathering news in a disaster zone under greater public scrutiny, making it imperative for media institutions to innovate and strengthen their existing news gathering processes.The COVID-19 pandemic, the worst public health disaster in hundred years, has further highlighted the difficulties news reporters have to face in gathering news in a disaster zone. According to a study by Network of Women in Media, India, 625 journalists and media workers had lost their lives by March 18, 2022, in India since the first COVID-19 case was reported in Kerala on January 30, 2020 (Network of Women in Media, India. In Memoriam: Journalists and media workers lost to Covid-19 in India. From https://docs.google.com/document/u/1/d/e/2PACX-1vTkXC1UzWBeXiz39WHroeqleYml9WJui-SbQIu7nANl0zjC-c0jp_maF0XeTNAqOg/pub. Retrieved March 31, 2022). The perils of pandemic reporting have evoked a debate at a global level across media institutions and leading journalism schools on how to train reporters and media workers to safely cover a COVID-19-like pandemic in the future (Columbia Journalism School. Reporting Safely on Covid During a Pandemic: Guidelines for CJS Students. From https://journalism.columbia.edu/reporting-safely-covid-during-pandemic-guidelines-cjs-students. Retrieved March 31, 2022).This chapter attempts to codify the primary role and responsibilities of journalists in a disaster zone, the logistical challenges they face while communicating risk, and the moral/ethical questions they have to face while gathering news on disasters. It delineates a standard operating procedure journalists must follow to combat threats to their physical safety and health and codify risks involved in a potentially hazardous/dangerous disaster zone. It also outlines a new disaster-sensitive methodology for conducting interviews with disaster victims with empathy and a greater sense of understanding of their trauma, loss, and pain. At the broader level, the chapter attempts to develop an ethical code for disaster-sensitive reporting and also argues for a humanitarian approach in disaster journalism.KeywordsDisaster journalismMedia ethicsCOVID-19 communication ecologyCrisis communicationPandemic reporting