community-based disaster risk management and the media media kit

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MEDIA KIT
chapter 2
media and disaster risk
management
The Role of Media in Disaster Risk
Management
Mass Media or simply “media” are channels of communication through
which messages fl ow, produced for popular consumption and relayed
through the print (e.g. newspapers, magazines) or electronic (e.g.
radio, television, internet) media. It also refers to the organized means
of dissemination of facts, opinions, and analysis, through a wider
variety of other media, which, aside from the general forms mentioned
above, also include: cinema fi lms, billboards, books, compact discs,
DVDs, videocassettes, and other forms of publishing and broadcasting.
Today, the media functions not only to disseminate facts and relay or
transfer information; it also serves as society’s watchdog highlighting
injustice (surveillance), a warning medium in disasters, and a source
of entertainment. Also, the media’s great potential and capacity to
infl uence has taken on roles that hold society together and serve as
a forum for public and community interaction. As societies grow more
and more complicated, its dependence on the media for information
has increased. The media has also evolved and developed more unique