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International media coverage promotes donations to a climate disaster.

  • Published In: Disasters, 2023, v. 47, n. 3. P. 725 1 of 3

  • Database: Academic Search Ultimate 2 of 3

  • Authored By: Chapman, Cassandra M.; Hornsey, Matthew J.; Fielding, Kelly S.; Gulliver, Robyn 3 of 3

Abstract

The Australian bushfires in 2019–20 triggered massive amounts of charitable giving from the community. This study applied agenda‐setting theory to examine if and how disaster news coverage influenced public donations in response to the crisis. A survey of 949 Australians found that people perceived news coverage of the event to be a strong influence on the amount they donated to bushfire appeals, over and above past giving levels. Furthermore, media coverage was more influential in participants' charity selection than both peer influence and direct communications from the charities. Next, a textual analysis of international news coverage of the event (N = 30,239 unique articles) was conducted. Compared to a control corpus of text, news coverage of the disaster used words related to 'money' and 'support' at disproportionately high frequencies. Together, the studies suggest that the media plays an agenda‐setting role in determining how and to what extent people give to disaster appeals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Additional Information

  • Source:Disasters. 2023/07, Vol. 47, Issue 3, p725
  • Document Type:Article
  • Subject Area:Politics and Government
  • Publication Date:2023
  • ISSN:0361-3666
  • DOI:10.1111/disa.12557
  • Accession Number:164135878
  • Copyright Statement:Copyright of Disasters is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

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