A Comparative Study of Press Conference of Japanese Government and News coverage on the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster in Its Early Stage

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26380714
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Sociology
• Research Institution: Waseda University
• Principal Investigator: SEGAWA SHIRO 早稲田大学, 政治経済学術院, 教授 (00515413)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 中村 理 早稲田大学, 政治経済学術院, 准教授 (70424794)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): YAMADA Kou 早稲田大学, 政治経済学術院, 准教授 (60424793)
• Research Collaborator: OKETA Atsushi ; CHIBA Ryo ; U Kaishun
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 原発事故 / マスメディア / 新聞 / 炉心溶融 / 報道分析 / 記者会見 / 発表報道 / ジャーナリズム

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We tried to analyze the relationship between the three elements, “actual situation of accident,” “press conferences of Japanese government (including TEPCO),” and “coverage of major newspapers” on the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant accident (March 2011) in its early stage. When analyzed in quantitative and qualitative way narrowing to “meltdown”, there was a tendency that press conference officers underestimated the actual situation of meltdown and news reporting quoted comments of press conference officers as their major news source. Analyzing news coverage of major newspapers in China as a foreign coverage, it was found that news articles of China quoted Japanese news media as their major news source.
As important data for our research, we created transcript of Japanese press conferences and constructed a site “FUKUSHIMA STUDY”. Utilizing this transcript, we conducted further research on press conference and news coverage in more detail.

Free Research Field

社会学