The Unique Handwritten "Newspaper" Created in the Aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake

• In Event: Complexion of Life in Contemporary Japan

Abstract

The massive Great East Japan Earthquake and accompanying tsunami (March 11, 2011) crippled the printing facilities at the Ishinomaki Hibi Shinbun, a local evening newspaper in Ishinomaki, Japan in the critical first six days immediately following the quake. Working with flashlights and marker pens, dedicated editors produced handwritten “newspapers” and pinned them up for survivors to read at local evacuation centers.
The present study is a content analysis of the six issues of the handwritten newspaper, and draws from interviews with the editors and local people in Ishinomaki. One of the findings is that the editors effectively constructed a frame of solidarity in the community by shifting from the traditional fact and figures reporting style to a more rapport building style. It was a shift to a “dialogue” or “a joint production” frame between the editors and readers.
The newspapers gradually simplified reality by focusing on a subset of relevant aspects of the disaster (e.g., volunteers and relief goods), which, in turn, helped to construct an emerging frame of solidarity that had the ability to alter the attitude and emotional well-being of the people. The newspapers helped people feel connected, involved, and not abandoned. They sent a meta-message of rapport building among the people and the people embraced it.
The press often does more than report the real story; it also filters and shapes it. In the case of Ishinomaki Hibi Shinbun, the reporting process resulted in empowering a community during its critical post-disaster period.

Author

• Shoji Azuma, University of Utah