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Title: How disasters drive media channel preferences: Tracing news consumption before, during, and after Hurricane Harvey
Understanding public media channel preferences can inform preparedness plans, response strategies, and long-term recovery. However, questions remain about how media consumption changes across pre-crisis, crisis, and post-crisis phases. Past theories argue that media use may change for several reasons, including during times of societal conflict and challenge. These theories point to the belief that, during a crisis, we expect media channel use to change because media preferences during a crisis will be fundamentally different compared to everyday routines. This paper takes advantage of a survey fielded to Texas residents soon after Hurricane Harvey. Here we ask: (1) What media channels are most prominent in each crisis phase? and (2) Do media channel preferences change across crisis phases? We use simple descriptive statistics and chi-squares tests to describe media channel preferences across the three crisis phases by demographics. Additionally, we use alluvial diagrams to visualize media channel preferences over time. In total, 62% (n=174) of respondents reported no changes in channel preferences. However, chi-square tests identified significant differences in media use changes related to a handful of demographic characteristics. These findings are explored alongside theories that would hypothesize likely media use changes across pre-crisis, crisis, and post-crisis phases.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1760484
PAR ID:
10209665
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management
ISSN:
0966-0879
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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