Newspaper reporting of bush-fire disaster in south-eastern Australia-Ash Wednesday 1983

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Abstract
Newspaper reports about a bushfire disaster in SE Australia were analysed in order to present some understanding of the images those reports conveyed to the victims and non-victims in one affected State. The results demonstrated that the newspapers gave limited prominence to reports containing warning or response information before or after the disaster. The newspapers reported most prominently case study descriptions of personal hardship or heroism which portrayed the victims as completely helpless during and after the event. The newspapers also devoted considerable prominence to reports describing the losses attributable to the bushfire, the factual details of which were accurate: this emphasis in content probably increased community perception of the danger of bushfire threat but, as little warning or response information was given, it is unlikely that the reports helped improve community preparedness for a future bushfire.