Les risques naturels médiatiquement invisibles

Abstract

From droughts and floods to fires, storms, and hurricanes, the number of natural disasters caused by climate change has increased fivefold in 50 years. A comparative analysis of how various natural risks are covered in the media shows that not all of these risks receive media coverage. The lack of attention paid to the material and human consequences of risks as common as clay swelling and shrinkage shows this. The authors set out to answer two questions: Why do certain natural hazards fail to garner media attention, despite the extensive (and repeated) material damage they cause? What conditions (both editorial and social) could make it easier to take such risks into account?

Keywords

• France
• climate change
• media coverage
• natural disasters
• social context