Silent Disasters Campaign: Media Analysis

Comparative analysis of the media coverage of Hurricane Sandy
and of twelve silent disasters
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
January 29th, 2013
www.influencecommunication.com
Comparative analysis of the media coverage of Hurricane Sandy

and of twelve silent disasters
RED CROSS / EU OFFICE

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
Chemin des Crts, 17 | 1209 Petit Saconnex | Geneva | Switzerland
Gina Guinta
ECHO-RCRC Communications Campaign Manager
Public Communications
Tel +41 (0)22 730 4323 | Mob. +41 (0)79 217 3381 | Fax +41 (0)22 733 0395
Email: gina.guinta@ifrc.org
Table of contents
Methodology .........................................................................................................5
1. Volume comparisons ........................................................................................6
1.1 Highlights .................................................................................................................... 6
1.2 Proportion of the combined media coverage for each selected disaster ............ 7
1.3 Handout ....................................................................................................................... 8
2. Top international news stories of 2012 ...........................................................10

3. Top environmental stories and natural disasters.............................................11
4. Twitter .............................................................................................................12
4.1 Volume comparisons ............................................................................................... 11
4.2 Hurricane Sandy in the USA.................................................................................... 13
4.2.1 Wordcloud ........................................................................................................................................13

4.2.2 Country distribution ..........................................................................................................................13
4.2.3 Top sources by number of tweets* ...................................................................................................14
4.2.4 Some of the most retweeted ............................................................................................................15
4.3 Hurricane Sandy in the Carribean .......................................................................... 16
4.3.1 Wordcloud ........................................................................................................................................16

4.4 Sahel and Burkina Faso food insecurity................................................................ 19
4.4.1 Wordcloud ........................................................................................................................................19

4.5 Uganda epidemics.................................................................................................... 22
4.5.1 Wordcloud ........................................................................................................................................22

4.6 Bangladesh tropical storm ...................................................................................... 25
4.6.1 Wordcloud ........................................................................................................................................25

4.7 Cambodia floods and food insecurity .................................................................... 28
4.7.1 Wordcloud ........................................................................................................................................28

4.8 Southern Africa and Lesotho food insecurity ....................................................... 31
4.8.1 Wordcloud ........................................................................................................................................31

4.9 Mongolia extreme cold............................................................................................. 34
4.9.1 Wordcloud ........................................................................................................................................34

4.10 Burundi returnees from Tanzania......................................................................... 37
4.10.1 Wordcloud ......................................................................................................................................37

4.10.2 Country distribution ........................................................................................................................37
4.10.3 Top sources by number of tweets* .................................................................................................38
4.10.4 Some of the most retweeted ..........................................................................................................39
4.11 Ecuador floods ....................................................................................................... 40
4.11.1 Wordcloud ......................................................................................................................................40

4.12 Tajikistan earthquake............................................................................................. 43
4.12.1 Wordcloud ......................................................................................................................................43

4.13 Vietnam hand, foot and mouth disease ............................................................... 46
4.13.1 Wordcloud ......................................................................................................................................46

4.14 Dengue Outbreak in El Salvador........................................................................... 49
4.14.1 Wordcloud ......................................................................................................................................49

Methodology
The goal of this analysis is to compare the volume of media coverage regarding the passage of
Hurricane Sandy in the United States with that regarding 12 silent disasters selected by the Red
Cross/Red Crescent, both in traditional media (print, news websites and news blogs) and on
Twitter.
These silent disasters are:
Hurricane Sandy in the Caribbean
Sahel and Burkina Faso food insecurity
Uganda epidemics
Bangladesh tropical storm
Cambodia floods and food insecurity
Southern Africa and Lesotho food insecurity
Mongolia extreme cold
Burundi returnees from Tanzania
Ecuador floods
Tajikistan earthquake
Vietnam hand, foot and mouth disease
Dengue outbreak in El Salvador
For traditional media, we have tallied the number of mentions of Hurricane Sandy in the USA and
of each of these silent disasters in print articles, on news websites and on news blogs from 200
countries. For Twitter, we have aggregated results using social media monitoring tools.
For both parts of the analysis, we have established a total number of items for all disasters,
including Hurricane Sandy in the USA. We then calculated the proportion of the media coverage
or the conversations on Twitter for each of the disasters.
Both compilations have been made using Boolean searches with keywords related to the
analyzed events in English, French and Spanish.
Since tweets include at most 140 characters (or 20 to 25 words), Boolean searches on Twitter are
not as efficient as searches performed in traditional media. The proportion of relevant items not
found by Boolean queries is thus most likely greater on Twitter than with traditional platforms.
Still, our conclusion is that the tweets collected are representative of the volume of conversation
regarding either Hurricane Sandy or the silent disasters.
The Twitter section of this report includes word clouds, distribution by country, a selection of the
most active accounts and a sample of popular retweets.
About 700,000 news items as well as 7 million tweets have been collected for the completion of
this analysis.
News articles were collected for the period of January 22nd, 2012 to January 22nd, 2013. Tweets
were collected from January 28th, 2012, to January 28th, 2013. To avoid redundancies, we used
shorter time frames for some of the disasters. When in doubt, the one-year period was
maintained.
1. Volume comparisons
1.1 Highlights
The passage of Hurricane Sandy in the United States received 89.40% of

the combined media coverage (print, news websites and blogs) of all the
selected natural disasters in 200 countries.
Altogether, the 12 silent disasters, including the passage of Hurricane

Sandy in the Caribbean, received 10.60 % of the combined media
coverage.
When excluding Hurricane Sandy in the Caribbean from the selected 12

silent disasters, the remaining 11 received only 3.83% of the combined
coverage of these events.
The passage of Hurricane Sandy in the USA received:

nine times the media coverage of all 12 silent disasters combined;
thirteen times the media coverage of Hurricane Sandy in the Caribbean;
twenty-three times the media coverage of the remaining silent
disasters (without Hurricane Sandy in the Caribbean).
The passage of Hurricane Sandy in the Caribbean received almost twice

the media coverage (6.76%) of all other remaining disasters combined
(3.83%). That is likely due to the fact that the American media directed a
lot of attention towards the approaching hurricane as it passed through the
Caribbean.
We have been very conservative in compiling the number of articles

mentioning the passage of Hurricane Sandy in the USA. If another country
affected by Sandy was mentioned, the article was excluded, to ensure all
remaining articles were about the passage of the Superstorm in the USA.
The coverage of Sandy in the USA was likely much higher, and our
analysis a conservative measure of how, in the media at least, it dwarfed
all the other disasters selected by the Red Cross/Red Crescent.
1.2 Proportion of the combined media coverage for each selected disaster
Proportionofthecombinedmediacoverage
foreachselecteddisaster
Rank
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
Event
HurricaneSandyintheUSA
HurricaneSandyintheCaribbean
SahelandBurkinaFasofoodinsecurity
Ugandaepidemics(cholera,Marburg,ebola)
Bangladeshtropicalstorm
Cambodiafloodsandfoodinsecurity
SouthernAfricaandLesothofoodinsecurity
Mongoliaextremecold
BurundireturneesfromTanzania
Ecuadorfloods
Tajikistanearthquake
Vietnamhand,footandmouthdisease
DengueoutbreakinElSalvador
Total
%
89.40%
6.76%
1.29%
0.73%
0.49%
0.34%
0.31%
0.24%
0.12%
0.10%
0.09%
0.07%
0.05%
100.00%
1.3 Handout
2. Top international news stories of 2012
Top international news stories of 2012

Rank
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
9
9
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
21
23
24
25
Event
Barack Obama reelected as President of the United States
Hurricane Sandy
London Olympic Games
Global warming / climate change
Economic crisis in the Euro zone
Shooting in a primary school in Connecticut
Political crisis in Syria
War in Afghanistan
Economic, social and political crisis in Greece
Democratic National Convention in Charlotte
Apple introduces the iPhone 5
United States fiscal cliff
Republican National Convention in Tampa
Irans nuclear program
Tensions and crisis between Israel and Palestine
Economic crisis and austerity measures in Spain
Elections in Russia: Vladimir Putin is elected for a third term
Super Bowl XLVI
Political issues in Iraq
Tour de France
Grammy Awards and nominations
Political issues in Egypt
Tropical storm Isaac
Presidential election in France: Hollande defeats Sarkozy
Queen Elizabeth IIs Diamond Jubilee
MPS
3.61%
2.59%
2.39%
2.38%
2.08%
1.99%
1.93%
1.90%
1.72%
1.72%
1.72%
1.70%
1.60%
1.47%
1.25%
1.15%
1.13%
0.90%
0.86%
0.84%
0.71%
0.71%
0.64%
0.64%
0.63%
26
Euro 2012
0.63%
27
Baseball World Series
0.62%
28
Attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi and the killing of the U.S. ambassador
0.59%
32
Russia: Pussy Riot band members condemned to imprisonment
0.52%
36
Muslim protests against an anti-Islam movie
0.48%
*Media Prominence Score. Based on the media coverage in the media of 160 countries.
10
3. Top environmental stories and natural disasters

Top environmental stories and natural disasters
in the news in 2012
Rank
Event
Hurricane Sandy
Global warming / Climate change
Tropical storm Isaac
The crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plant was a man-made disaster, states a
Japanese parliamentary report
Rio + 20 summit
11
4. Twitter
4.1 Volume comparisons
The passage of Hurricane Sandy in the United States received fifteen

times the coverage on Twitter of all 12 silent disasters combined.
The passage of Hurricane Sandy in the USA was the object of 94.06% of
the combined total of conversations on Twitter for all the selected natural
disasters.
Altogether, the silent disasters, including the passage of Hurricane

Sandy in the Caribbean, were the object of 5.94 % of the combined total of
conversations.
When excluding Hurricane Sandy in the Caribbean from the silent

disasters, the remaining 11 silent disasters received only 1.94% of the
combined coverage of all selected disasters.
Proportionofthecombinedtotalofconversationson
Twitterforeachselecteddisaster
Rank
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
Event
HurricaneSandyintheUSA
HurricaneSandyintheCaribbean
Ugandaepidemics
SahelandBurkinaFasofoodinsecurity
DengueoutbreakinElSalvador
Tajikistanearthquake
Bangladeshtropicalstorm
SouthernAfricaandLesothofoodinsecurity
Ecuadorfloods
Cambodiafloodsandfoodinsecurity
BurundireturneesfromTanzania
Mongoliaextremecold
Vietnamhand,footandmouthdisease
Total
%
94.06%
4.00%
0.89%
0.88%
0.05%
0.05%
0.03%
0.02%
0.01%
0.01%
0.01%
0.01%
0.00%
100.00%
12
4.2 Hurricane Sandy in the USA

4.2.1 Word Cloud
4.2.2 Distribution by country
13
4.2.3 Top sources by number of tweets*

*The chart below represents the number of tweets taken from a sample of all the tweets on the
related subject, and not the total number of tweets. It gives an indication of which Twitter
accounts have been most active among authoritative Twitter influencers. Low-authority Twitter
influencers have not been taken into account.
14
4.2.4 Some of the most retweeted
15
4.3 Hurricane Sandy in the Caribbean

4.3.1 Word Cloud
16

17
18
4.4 Sahel and Burkina Faso food insecurity

4.4.1 Word cloud
19

20
21
4.5 Uganda epidemics

4.5.1 Word cloud
22

23
24
4.6 Bangladesh tropical storm

4.6.1 Word cloud
25

26
27
4.7 Cambodia floods and food insecurity

4.7.1 Word cloud
28

29
30
4.8 Southern Africa and Lesotho food insecurity

4.8.1 Word cloud
31

32
33
4.9 Mongolia extreme cold

4.9.1 Word cloud
34

35
36
4.10 Burundi returnees from Tanzania

4.10.1 Word cloud
37

38
39
4.11 Ecuador floods

4.11.1 Word cloud
40

41
42
4.12 Tajikistan earthquake

4.12.1 Word cloud
43

44
45
4.13 Vietnam hand, foot and mouth disease

4.13.1 Word cloud
46

47
48
4.14 Dengue Outbreak in El Salvador

4.14.1 Word cloud
49

50
51

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Comparative analysis of the media coverage of Hurricane Sandy

and of twelve silent disasters

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

January 29th, 2013

Comparative analysis of the media coverage of Hurricane Sandy

RED CROSS / EU OFFICE

2. Top international news stories of 2012 ...........................................................10

4.2.1 Wordcloud ........................................................................................................................................13

4.3 Hurricane Sandy in the Carribean .......................................................................... 16

4.3.1 Wordcloud ........................................................................................................................................16

4.4 Sahel and Burkina Faso food insecurity................................................................ 19

4.4.1 Wordcloud ........................................................................................................................................19

4.5 Uganda epidemics.................................................................................................... 22

4.5.1 Wordcloud ........................................................................................................................................22

4.6 Bangladesh tropical storm ...................................................................................... 25

4.6.1 Wordcloud ........................................................................................................................................25

4.7 Cambodia floods and food insecurity .................................................................... 28

4.7.1 Wordcloud ........................................................................................................................................28

4.8 Southern Africa and Lesotho food insecurity ....................................................... 31

4.8.1 Wordcloud ........................................................................................................................................31

4.9 Mongolia extreme cold............................................................................................. 34

4.9.1 Wordcloud ........................................................................................................................................34

4.10 Burundi returnees from Tanzania......................................................................... 37

4.10.1 Wordcloud ......................................................................................................................................37

4.11 Ecuador floods ....................................................................................................... 40

4.11.1 Wordcloud ......................................................................................................................................40

4.12 Tajikistan earthquake............................................................................................. 43

4.12.1 Wordcloud ......................................................................................................................................43

4.13 Vietnam hand, foot and mouth disease ............................................................... 46

4.13.1 Wordcloud ......................................................................................................................................46

4.14 Dengue Outbreak in El Salvador........................................................................... 49

4.14.1 Wordcloud ......................................................................................................................................49

The passage of Hurricane Sandy in the United States received 89.40% of

Altogether, the 12 silent disasters, including the passage of Hurricane

When excluding Hurricane Sandy in the Caribbean from the selected 12

The passage of Hurricane Sandy in the USA received:

The passage of Hurricane Sandy in the Caribbean received almost twice

We have been very conservative in compiling the number of articles

2. Top international news stories of 2012

Top international news stories of 2012

Baseball World Series

Russia: Pussy Riot band members condemned to imprisonment

Muslim protests against an anti-Islam movie

3. Top environmental stories and natural disasters

Global warming / Climate change

Tropical storm Isaac

The passage of Hurricane Sandy in the United States received fifteen

Altogether, the silent disasters, including the passage of Hurricane

When excluding Hurricane Sandy in the Caribbean from the silent

4.2 Hurricane Sandy in the USA

4.2.2 Distribution by country

4.2.3 Top sources by number of tweets*

4.2.4 Some of the most retweeted

4.3 Hurricane Sandy in the Caribbean

4.3.2 Distribution by country

4.3.3 Top sources by number of tweets*

4.3.4 Some of the most retweeted

4.4 Sahel and Burkina Faso food insecurity

4.4.2 Distribution by country

4.4.3 Top sources by number of tweets*

4.4.4 Some of the most retweeted

4.5 Uganda epidemics

4.5.2 Distribution by country