(Un)Covering Disasters: A Conference on Disaster Journalism and Risk Communication

CALL FOR PAPERS
Deadline for submission of abstracts EXTENDED to 4 May 2014 (11 PM, Philippine Standard Time)

Recent disasters in the Asia-Pacific Region, such as the Tohoku tsunami, Bohol earthquake, and Typhoon Haiyan, have brought to light issues and concerns related to the mainstream and alternative media coverage of disasters and post-disaster responses.

Analysts, scholars, government representatives, media practitioners, and even members of the general public have a stake in how the media covers disasters and post-disaster responses. This conference seeks to provide a venue for discussion and critical discourse of this subject. It will bring together journalists, academics, scientists, and other stakeholders to engage in dialogue, which hopefully will lay the groundwork for the crafting of efficient and ethical frameworks for disaster reporting.

The discourse on disasters is unique to the cultures and countries in which these events occur. This conference seeks to uncover the complexities of disaster reporting through a union of theoretical and practical approaches. As such, it invites paper contributions from students, scholars, and practitioners on any of the following topics or themes:

• Theoretical perspectives on risk communication and environmental journalism
• The use of local and indigenous knowledge in disaster risk reduction
• Representation of tragedy and suffering in the mainstream and new media
• Visual representations of disaster through photographs, film or video
• Internal (intra- and interagency) and external (media relations) communication activities of government agencies and relief NGOs
• Reporting of post-disaster responses, rescue, retrieval, and relief operations, and delivery of humanitarian aid
• Safety protocols for journalists in disaster news coverage
• The role of journalism in facilitating efficient and effective disaster response
• Public participation and engagement through social media during disaster events
• Communication and public understanding of disaster preparedness programs and campaigns

The conference will accept papers that range from theoretically driven research to those that are anchored on an empiricist understanding of disaster situations as they occur on the ground.

Undergraduate and graduate student papers are also welcome. Works-in-progress are also welcome, provided that data will be available for presentation on the day assigned to the presenter.