also been dominated by topics regarding “NPP,” and the topics of “earthquake and
tsunami” were covered with them.
At the same time, blog entries with contents on “Earthquake” and “Tsunami”
rapidly decreased. After the decrease of “Earthquake” and “Tsunami,” “Radiation
exposure” and “NPP accident” rapidly increased. However, interest on them were
not sustained. In summary, interest on disasters and the NPP accident have rapidly
faded out. The remained and stable interest was about “low radiation exposure” and
“internal exposure.” The rapid decrease of interest on NPP was also found on
Twitter. In the analysis of Twitter, we categorized a variety of topics such as “NPP”
such as “NPP accident,” “Nuclear power policy,” etc. In the aftermath of the NPP
accident, tweets regarding “NPP” occupied in over 10% of all tweets, however, by
the third month after the accident, the coverage decreased to fewer than 2%. Shortly
thereafter, in the Internet sphere, it seemed that the interest concerning the 3.11
rapidly decreased [2]. Considering insights from the report on Japanese Internet use
published by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications [22], there is a
gap of coefficient use of Internet according to different areas affected by the disasters. The Tohoku region has a low score compared to other metropolitan areas.
This indicates that the decrease of interest in the earthquake and tsunami was driven
by interests of urban residents with less damages. In other words, the majority of
generator and consumer of discourses concerning the 3.11 on the Internet were
people in the metropolitan areas with less damages.
Simultaneously, our current data indicated that there are different media interests
between national and local newspapers. The national newspaper (Asahi-shimbun)
tended to focus on the NPP accident rather than tsunami and earthquake, while on
the other hand, the local newspaper (Kahoku-shimpo) tried to keep their attention
placed toward the tsunami and earthquake. This indicates that these two newspapers
faced different contexts or “realities.” However, at least, it can be said that the
“NPP” accident played a strong role in setting topics and engulfed interests on
“Earthquake and Tsunami” in national and social media, and the gap of interests
between national and local media became broader. We should discuss the effect of
the NPP accident from the perspectives of “exploitation of interests” hereafter.
Considering previous discussions of media studies, it can be said that gaps of
attention between national/social media and local media will influence the distribution of capital and social interests during the reconstruction process through their
agenda and frame building process [9–11].
5 Conclusion
There are continuous damages in the sites devastated by earthquake, tsunami, and
the NPP accident. Damages show their complex characters according to areas.
Particularly in areas where it has been regarded as evacuation areas for the NPP
accident, various effects and hurdles for the reconstruction process appeared.
Therefore, we cannot treat those effects uniformly. In addition, there are different
Deprivation of Media Attention by Fukushima Daiichi …
123
tsunami” were covered with them.
At the same time, blog entries with contents on “Earthquake” and “Tsunami”
rapidly decreased. After the decrease of “Earthquake” and “Tsunami,” “Radiation
exposure” and “NPP accident” rapidly increased. However, interest on them were
not sustained. In summary, interest on disasters and the NPP accident have rapidly
faded out. The remained and stable interest was about “low radiation exposure” and
“internal exposure.” The rapid decrease of interest on NPP was also found on
Twitter. In the analysis of Twitter, we categorized a variety of topics such as “NPP”
such as “NPP accident,” “Nuclear power policy,” etc. In the aftermath of the NPP
accident, tweets regarding “NPP” occupied in over 10% of all tweets, however, by
the third month after the accident, the coverage decreased to fewer than 2%. Shortly
thereafter, in the Internet sphere, it seemed that the interest concerning the 3.11
rapidly decreased [2]. Considering insights from the report on Japanese Internet use
published by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications [22], there is a
gap of coefficient use of Internet according to different areas affected by the disasters. The Tohoku region has a low score compared to other metropolitan areas.
This indicates that the decrease of interest in the earthquake and tsunami was driven
by interests of urban residents with less damages. In other words, the majority of
generator and consumer of discourses concerning the 3.11 on the Internet were
people in the metropolitan areas with less damages.
Simultaneously, our current data indicated that there are different media interests
between national and local newspapers. The national newspaper (Asahi-shimbun)
tended to focus on the NPP accident rather than tsunami and earthquake, while on
the other hand, the local newspaper (Kahoku-shimpo) tried to keep their attention
placed toward the tsunami and earthquake. This indicates that these two newspapers
faced different contexts or “realities.” However, at least, it can be said that the
“NPP” accident played a strong role in setting topics and engulfed interests on
“Earthquake and Tsunami” in national and social media, and the gap of interests
between national and local media became broader. We should discuss the effect of
the NPP accident from the perspectives of “exploitation of interests” hereafter.
Considering previous discussions of media studies, it can be said that gaps of
attention between national/social media and local media will influence the distribution of capital and social interests during the reconstruction process through their
agenda and frame building process [9–11].
5 Conclusion
There are continuous damages in the sites devastated by earthquake, tsunami, and
the NPP accident. Damages show their complex characters according to areas.
Particularly in areas where it has been regarded as evacuation areas for the NPP
accident, various effects and hurdles for the reconstruction process appeared.
Therefore, we cannot treat those effects uniformly. In addition, there are different
Deprivation of Media Attention by Fukushima Daiichi …
123