Risk communication discourse: A content analysis of some Australian media coverage of cyclones in Queensland, Australia in 2011

Abstract

As a cross-disciplinary field, the risk communication (RC) discourse is complex. Thereof, media coverage of disasters as a fundamental resource of RC should be examined to guarantee successful delivery of risk information. Thus, this study investigated the content of risk information of cyclone-related news of the Brisbane Times and The Australian newspapers. It scrutinized the different types of risk-related messages by means of a quantitative content analysis based on the Extended Parallel Processing Model (EPPM) proposed by Witte (1980). The media coverage of the 2011 Queensland cyclones was examined with respect to the main question: what type of risk information the public was provided with? It was shown that the coverage of the Brisbane Times and The Australian might be enhanced by covering main components equally, focusing more on the component of efficacy, specifically ‘the outcomes of preventive actions’.