Media coverage of tropical storm Yolanda. Discourse analysis of sources

Abstract

Tropical storm Yolanda (named Haiyan by the World Meteorological Organization) was not only the world’s strongest storm in 2013 but also the most destructive one in the history of the Philippines, a country that is one of Spain’s priority objectives in the field of cooperation. Perhaps one of the reasons why the Philippines requires such aid is its extreme vulnerability to climate change impacts. In this paper we present a field study of the treatment that Radiotelevisión Española (RTVE) gave to this catastrophe during the two weeks following its occurrence, since RTVE is the best prepared Spanish medium to provide comprehensive coverage of an event of such magnitude in that area. After establishing the basis of our research, we focus on the role of the different sources of information, since we believe their study is essential to understanding the vision of the disaster conveyed to the viewer.

KEYWORDS: journalism, science, sources, Philippines, Yolanda, framing.