Understanding international agenda using media analytics: The case of disaster news coverage in Indonesia

Abstract

Global Data on Event Location and Tone (GDELT) database on global events allowed the platform to be a source for big data analysis that potentially signifies our understanding on the extent of event reports. On 28 September 2018, an earthquake with a magnitude of M7.4 shook Palu and Donggala. Various countries broadcast the disaster, including economic partner countries such as the U.S., Australia, and Japan. This paper questions determinant of the inter-news coverage on the earthquake and tsunami in Palu and Donggala between foreign and domestic media. The paper found that the dynamic of news broadcasts on disaster varied between countries and that the coverage fluctuated in all countries. The paper presents newsworthiness of disaster events depends on contextual, political and spatial proximity between countries. This paper’s findings point to the remaining challenge to understand disaster impacts on the community, despite new data and methodology are employed.