ABSTRACT
Media reports either omit or fail to distinguish between the various contexts, and in the attempt to "get the very latest" often cross those ethical boundaries that Elliott outlined as fundamental to good disaster and crisis coverage. In addition, as Sharon Friedman and Gene Burd illustrate, when official sources are confused or in conflict, the resulting media coverage may focus on the debate between sources rather on than the disaster itself. Although scholars accuse journalists of decontextualizing events, other research indicates that a variety of disaster cultures exist within which news is interpreted. E. L. Quarantelli early work on the culture of disaster indicates that, in some societies and some subgroups, a specific set of expectations about disasters and their impact exists. The disaster culture, and the intrusion of the mass media into that culture, has become an important new element for the hazards community to both understand and harness for certain goals.
