· The Role
of the Media and Media Hypes in the Aftermath of Disasters
Peter Vasterman 1
C. Joris Yzermans 2
3. Anja J. E. Dirkzwager 2
Received July 29, 2004.
Accepted November 9, 2004.
Key words
MPI, mass psychogenic illness
·
INTRODUCTION
It is hardly a surprise that disasters occur more
often now than in the past: the world is getting more crowded, air traffic is
busier, terrorists are operating worldwide, and the world is much more
dependent on complex, but vulnerable technological systems. In the database of
the Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters, an increase was found
in the number of disasters worldwide. During the decade 1970–1979, 1,230
disasters were registered; in the 1980s, this figure was 2,856; and, in the
1990s, 4,790 disasters were listed. For the years 2000–2003, more than 3,000
disasters were reported (1). Disasters can be
defined as acute, collectively experienced traumatic events with a sudden
onset, and they can be both natural (e.g., hurricanes, floods, earthquakes) and
man-made (e.g., plane crashes, industrial accidents, terrorist attacks) (2).
A growing body of literature suggests that disasters
can have both short-term and long-term health consequences for the victims
involved, such as posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, or
substance abuse (2,3). Increased self-reports
of nonspecific psychological distress and medically unexplained physical
symptoms (e.g., fatigue, headache, difficulty concentrating, joint/muscle pain)
have been noted following disasters as well, for instance, after the Three Mile
Island nuclear accident in Pennsylvania (4), the Buffalo
Creek dam disaster in West Virginia (5), and the Amsterdam
air disaster in the Netherlands (6, 7). Similar symptoms
were also reported by veterans after their involvement in traumatic military
situations, such as the first Gulf War (8).
These health consequences after disasters cannot be
studied without focusing on the role of the mass media. In modern society, the
significance of the media in everyday life has increased dramatically, turning
the world into a global village. On September 11, 2001, people all over the
world watched the dramatic images of the planes crashing into the World Trade
Center; they saw the gigantic smoke clouds, the panic in the city, the people
jumping from the buildings, and finally the collapse of the towers. “Nine
eleven” redefined the worries of most people in the Western world. In
postmodern society, coined by sociologists the “risk society,” people feel
threatened by all kinds of invisible risks that exist only in terms of
knowledge (9), which means that
all depends on the social construction of that risk. In that respect, the
social definition of a specific risk can be manipulated, amplified, magnified,
or minimized. Especially when key events such as “nine eleven” launch new risk
issues and uncertainty reigns, the public has to rely on the messages
communicated to them by the media. But what do we actually know about the
effects of these media messages on the definition of risks, health perception,
and personal well-being?
To answer this question, we searched three databases
and, in this paper, review the current literature on the role of the media in
the context of disasters and their aftermath. In addition, we explore theoretical
frameworks on the risk amplification process that takes place after disasters
and the way in which so-called media hypes frame new risk issues. In the last
part of this paper, we present the case of a 1992 plane crash that occurred in
Amsterdam (the “Bijlmermeer plane crash”), as an example of how media hypes can
trigger a process years later, in which a growing number of people attributed
their health problems to the disaster.
