Who gave you the right?: Exploring power and politics in journalism and academic work chronicling Hurricane Maria

Chew, Amy; Delgado-Fernandini, Gabriela C.; Cantrell, Jamario; Carter, Daniel

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/106573 Copy

Description

Title

Who gave you the right?: Exploring power and politics in journalism and academic work chronicling Hurricane Maria

Author(s)

• Chew, Amy
• Delgado-Fernandini, Gabriela C.
• Cantrell, Jamario
• Carter, Daniel

Issue Date

2020-03-23

Keyword(s)

• Crisis communication
• Journalism
• Colonialism

Abstract

Hurricane Maria impacted Puerto Rico on September 20, 2017 and caused severe damage to the island. During the year after Hurricane Maria, government agencies and news organizations struggled to arrive at a consensus regarding the hurricane's death toll. The early death estimates that were severe- ly underreported affected the amount of relief that Puerto Rico received from government institutions, as well as from private groups. As a result, it is im- perative to understand how these consequential numbers were constructed following Hurricane Maria. We interviewed journalists and academic researchers who produced and disseminated information following Hurricane Maria and considered the role that these individuals played in communicating the number of deaths caused by the hurricane, how their methods differed, and how these factors contribute to the production of death toll numbers and narratives. We discuss our results in the context of validation and the consequences of colonization on information production and dissemination.

Publisher

iSchools

Series/Report Name or Number

iConference 2020 Proceedings

Type of Resource

text

Language

eng

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/106573

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2020 Amy Chew, Gabriela C. Delgado-Fernandini, Jamario Cantrell, and Daniel Carter

Owning Collections