I527-290 ESRIF Final Report (WEB).indd - European Commission

6. Another research area focuses on communicative strategies-what media actors might accomplish and how they can achieve
their desired objectives in the most eff ective of manners. This focus has to do with communicative fl ows between the media
and other key actors involved in crisis management and confl ict resolutions. However, research in this tradition tends to ignore
the framing power of the media and the way in which the media enable or disable actors’ capacity for communication. For our
purposes, it should thus be noted that, especially the political crisis communication literature has made an important contribution
in addressing the link between crisis communication and political processes such as accountability and policy processes following
in the wake of crises. However, by asking research questions related to the eff ectiveness of crisis management, this kind of research
lose sight of the more long term societal implications of crisis which might have benefi tted from an open and critical discussion.
7. There is a tendency in previous research on journalism to understand news organisations as a homogenous set of
organisations with identical norms, values and practices. However, the few comparative studies that have been done on
news organisational production practices demonstrate that there are in fact important diff erences between organisational
practices which impact on how events are being covered. By focusing research on the organisational level, knowledge will be
gained that can help us understand diff erences between news organisations both on a national as well as international level.
This kind of research will also provide knowledge on whether there is empirical evidence for an increasing homogenisation
of news as has been proposed by the notion of global risk society.
8. As many journalists argue, reportage and comment must often go beyond the task of simply informing but also entertain
audiences amid tight competition between media outlets for market share. Public bodies are obliged, therefore, to devise
ways by which emergency information can be eff ectively transmitted, even in highly stressful settings, via media with
diff ering production and business requirements, content styles and audience profi les.
As these strategies are developed and implemented extensive research is required, in parallel, to identify the impacts which
they may have on the eff ectiveness of security plans and procedures. The core concern rests with how public bodies can
facilitate transparency and vigorous media scrutiny of crisis measures while ensuring that emergency measures do not,
however unwittingly, become led by media demands and opinions rather than by expert-identifi ed need.
Research on the impacts of intense media coverage or the expectation of such coverage on how emergency agencies plan for or manage
a crisis is, therefore, a high priority in the interests of eff ective emergency management, rigorous journalism and public confi dence.
This research should translate into practical pathways for public bodies and media practitioners to assist them through the
complexities of communicating and reporting crises without placing the public at unnecessary risk.
Collaborations among practitioners and academics which combine expertise in journalism/media studies and psychology should
address how varied audiences respond to emergency information and coverage of crises. This research should bring forward best
practices for public bodies and media outlets in the framing and dissemination of information in the interests of public safety.
One should also investigate how the experience/expectation of media coverage impacts on public bodies and, especially, on those
charged with devising plans for and managing emergencies. It will identify guidelines to help ensure that public bodies, in engaging
with the media, both facilitate transparency and deliver eff ective public safety measures. Likely expertise will come from practitioners
and academics in the fi elds of security, media, ethics, politics, psychology and law. Research must refl ect the changing landscape of
media and, in particular, address and provide best practice strategies which refl ect the increasing shift to novel media technologies.
Possible innovative routes of enquiry include:
1. Whether media scrutiny prompts public bodies to quality audit their emergency planning and crisis management and
whether this assists in striking an appropriate balance between societal security and other basic values?
2. What legal, ethical and security issues arise when public bodies distinguish between information which, by its communication
via the media, bolsters public safety and on the other hand information which is withheld so as to preserve security? What
procedures, if any, can balance transparency and the avoidance of unnecessary risk while preventing abuses of power?
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