IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/anname/v604y2006i1p57-81.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Metaphors Matter: Disaster Myths, Media Frames, and Their Consequences in Hurricane Katrina

Author

Listed:
  • Kathleen Tierney

    (Department of Sociology and the Institute of Behavioral Science at the University of Colorado, University of Colorado Natural Hazards Center)

  • Christine Bevc

    (University of Colorado, Natural Hazards Center)

  • Erica Kuligowski

    (University of Colorado, Natural Hazards Center)

Abstract

It has long been understood by disaster researchers that both the general public and organizational actors tend to believe in various disaster myths. Notions that disasters are accompanied by looting, social disorganization, and deviant behavior are examples of such myths. Research shows that the mass media play a significant role in promulgating erroneous beliefs about disaster behavior. Following Hurricane Katrina, the response of disaster victims was framed by the media in ways that greatly exaggerated the incidence and severity of looting and lawlessness. Media reports initially employed a “civil unrest†frame and later characterized victim behavior as equivalent to urban warfare. The media emphasis on lawlessness and the need for strict social control both reflects and reinforces political discourse calling for a greater role for the military in disaster management. Such policy positions are indicators of the strength of militarism as an ideology in the United States.

Suggested Citation

  • Kathleen Tierney & Christine Bevc & Erica Kuligowski, 2006. "Metaphors Matter: Disaster Myths, Media Frames, and Their Consequences in Hurricane Katrina," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 604(1), pages 57-81, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:604:y:2006:i:1:p:57-81
    DOI: 10.1177/0002716205285589
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0002716205285589
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0002716205285589?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Farnaz Yarveysi & Atieh Alipour & Hamed Moftakhari & Keighobad Jafarzadegan & Hamid Moradkhani, 2023. "Block-level vulnerability assessment reveals disproportionate impacts of natural hazards across the conterminous United States," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    2. Hodgkinson, Tarah & Andresen, Martin A. & Frank, Richard & Pringle, Darren, 2022. "Crime down in the Paris of the prairies: Spatial effects of COVID-19 and crime during lockdown in Saskatoon, Canada," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    3. Angelo Jonas Imperiale & Frank Vanclay, 2021. "Conceptualizing community resilience and the social dimensions of risk to overcome barriers to disaster risk reduction and sustainable development," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(5), pages 891-905, September.
    4. Giacomo Buoncompagni, 2023. "Notizie di comunit? nell?instabilit?. Dove sta andando il giornalismo locale?," PRISMA Economia - Societ? - Lavoro, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2023(1-2), pages 160-176.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:604:y:2006:i:1:p:57-81. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.