You are cordially invited to the next
DIJ Social Science Study Group held on Wednesday, July 6, 18:30:

Florian Meisner, Dortmund Technical University:

Journalism and Disaster from a Cultural Perspective. A Comparative Reflection of German and Japanese
Media Reporting on "Fukushima"

Japanese and international media coverage of March 11, 2011 differed significantly in many ways.
Some of the most remarkable examples of this gap can be drawn from comparing Japanese and German
news reporting. For instance, media outlets in Japan initially paid most attention to the earthquake
and tsunami disasters, while their German counterparts focused on the crippled nuclear power plant
in Fukushima. Japanese coverage relied to a high degree on official sources, whereas German media
reports also involved many non-official sources such as NGOs. Moreover, news in Japan were shaped by
calls to avoid panic and so-called "harmful rumors". On the opposite, German media were often
denounced for cases of sensationalism.
This presentation argues that the fact that Japan was directly involved into the disaster while
Germany was not, does not sufficiently explain this gap. This study reconstructs the circumstances
of disaster reporting as well as the journalistic cultures in each country. Based on the
understanding that “western” theories of journalism do not do the Japanese case justice, the study
employs an inductive approach that is sensitive to the different cultural conditions of the work of
journalists in both countries. It draws on a series of expert interviews with scholars of Japanese
studies and journalism studies as well as narrative interviews with journalists from both countries
who covered the disaster. The comparative analysis indicates that not only the routines of disaster
reporting differ substantially between German and Japanese media, but also the journalists' societal
role as well as their professional socialization.
Florian Meisner is Ph.D. Fellow at the School of International and Intercultural Communication,
based at the Erich Brost Institute for International Journalism, Dortmund Technical University. He
is also a former freelance journalist for public broadcasters.

The DIJ Social Science Study Group is organized by Steffen Heinrich, Phoebe Holdgrun and Daniel
Kremers.
All are welcome to attend, but registration ([a:mailto:holdgruen@dijtokyo.org] mailto:holdgruen@dijtokyo.org ) is appreciated.
German Institute for Japanese Studies Tokyo (DIJ)
J?chi Kioizaka Bldg. 2F, 7-1 Kioich?, Chiyoda-ku, T?ky? 102-0094, Phone: 03-3222-5077
For a map please refer to [a:http://www.dijtokyo.org]www.dijtokyo.org
--
Dr. Phoebe Stella Holdgrun

Deputy Director

DIJ German Institute for Japanese Studies Tokyo
Deutsches Institut fur Japanstudien

http://www.dijtokyo.org

Contemporary Japan - international peer-reviewed journal, open access
http://contemporary-japan.org/