GALANG, Drestel Leigh Q.

2012-24624
BC 100

Reaction Paper on Communicating Risks, Risking Miscommunication Lecture

The lecture on Mass Media and the Science of Natural Disasters is a commendable effort to
educate people regarding the role that the media plays in natural disaster risk reduction and management.
The discussion generally revolved around how to make people understand natural disasters through mass
media. There are several discourses that arose from here, including discussing technical science terms and
dumbing it down for the audiences, the profitability of science journalism, and shortcomings in the part of
the media in preparing the people for natural disasters.
Although I recognize the responsibility of media in information dissemination, some of the
discussions in the lecture were a bit problematic to me.
Language of Natural Disasters
Nathaniel Mang Tani Cruz, GMA resident meteorologist and former PAGASA director,
discussed how it is difficult to translate and convey very technical science concepts with regards to
natural disasters in to something most of people would understand. He said that it is important to consider
the target audience in the language and manner of explanation used to discuss natural disasters.
I actually prepared a question regarding this for the open forum but did not get to ask it due to the
number of people already asking questions and time constraints. For a country that is often hit by
typhoons, why dont we have Filipino words describing natural disaster phenomena? Or if there are, why
is it not used? I know there are words like daluyong for storm surge, but what about other phenomena?
In a broader sense, we often dont use or dont have terms for science concepts. Some cases we
dont even know the meaning of our Filipino terms, like how dagitab means electricity but was used to
mean sparks in the latest Cinemalaya film Dagitab. I recall all my science subjects in Philippine Science
High School were taught in English, which made understanding topics difficult but moreover explaining
them even more. We were trained to be the future scientists of the nation and we did not know how to
adequately explain the greenhouse gas effect without using highfaluting terms. English is used to study
science because it is regarded as an intellectual language while Filipino is not.
This is also reflected in Mang Tani, saying that there was a need for his producer to translate his
findings into something laymen would understand. There is a gap between the scientists and the people,
in this case the language, and it seemed like media should be the main actor in bridging the gap.
Science Education
Freelance Science Journalist, Shaira Panela continued the discussion by talking about her
experiences as a science journalist. She said that in our educational system, science is not prioritized, that

a lot of students dont want to pursue courses in science, that they associate math and sciences to nose
bleeding. This is true especially for poor Filipinos, they would opt to take shorter courses (2-3 years) or
courses with high return on investments (engineering, nursing, architecture, accountancy, medicine, law
etc.)
What was lacking in her discussion is that education in the country is not even accessible to the
majority. Tuition fees are higher every year, and jobs and income are harder and harder to come by. For
the farmers which make up 75% of our society, they dont even have the option to send their children to
tertiary education because the academic calendar shift coincides with their harvest season. Thats even
beyond the point that they dont have the money for education, only earning 9.50 pesos a day. Adding to
that is the implementation of K12, extending basic and secondary education to 12 years, thats 12 years
worth of high tuition fees. K12 also pushes high school graduates to become semi skilled workers.
Tertiary education would be regarded as a privilege.
Shaira Panela also talked about how she did not want to dumb down science concepts in her
journalism, that it was a trend that she did not approve to. I think the alternative to dumbing down
concepts is to actually educate the majority of the Filipino, through an accessible educational system.
Although this sounds like an ideal solution, education plays a major role in the development of a nation.
Education is a basic human right, the country should be putting it in priority.
Media Business
A recurring topic that was discussed is how science does not sell. At first I was shocked when I
heard this, because I thought that media coverage on natural disasters is of utmost importance. Although I
agreed that generally science does not sell, as compared to entertainment and politics, I thought that the
profitability would not be so much of a concern in disasters. During the forum I was reminded that first of
all the media industry is a business first. Its priority is not to educate people, but to earn profit.
Government Responsibility
I think that the lecture stretched out the responsibility of media too much. Some questions in the
open forum went on to blame media for its shortcomings in mobilizing the people to evacuate during
disasters. People confuse the responsibility of the government, especially in natural disasters, to the
responsibility of the government. Generally I think that media should work together with government
efforts in the context of natural disasters, media should not be isolated as the main actor disaster risk
reduction.
Being born and raised in Bicol, I very much appreciate efforts like this lecture to educate people
about natural disasters. But one thing I learned from years worth of storms is that the government is the
crucial player in disaster risk reduction. Bicol could not have achieved zero casualties during natural
disasters had it not been for the effort of the local government.