Publication Laka-library:
Chernobyl and European television
| Author | ECEC |
| Date | |
| Classification | 2.34.8.30/14 (CHERNOBYL ACCIDENT - CONSEQUENCES EUROPE - GENERAL) |
| Front | 
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From the publication:
CHERNOBYL AND EUROPEAN TELEVISION DETAILED STUDY OF COVERAGE OF THE ACCIDENT AND ITS IMMEDIATE CONSEQUENCES INTRODUCTION Sixteen European television stations representing 33 daily TV news programmes took part in this statistical study of the media spin-offs from Chernobyl between 29 April and 16 May 1986 (see attached list). For a proper understanding of the study, some specific features should be noted which arise in essence from the fact that European television companies are not used to responding to this type of survey and their structures vary so much from one country to another and even from one company to another that the survey is difficult to operate. Note the following in particular: a) Audience variation from one news broadcast to another makes some specific analyses difficult, b) The number of daily news broadcasts varies from station to station, c) The structure of the TV stations varies, making some comparisons difficult. Thus in one station the Features Service may be fully integrated into news information and in another be ignorant of it, d) Since the questionnaire was reduced to minimum length, it is sometimes not easy to classify or compare certain subjects. However, several questionnaires were accompanied by notes or "guides" enabling us to understand them more clearly, e) The filing systems vary enormously from one station to another, some just being a muddle. In this respect, good marks to Portugal whose clear, computerised records allow an excellent job of analysis and synthesis to be carried out. Despite these difficulties, however, we were able to obtain a great deal of information from the questionnaires returned to us. We were able to count 1297 stories covered on Chernobyl in 33 news programmes for which we have the complete questionnaires. These stories were broadcast between 29 April '86 and 16 May '86 inclusive. They total 35 hours 39 minutes of programmes. We have not taken 26 and 27 April into account because no information had filtered through by then, or 28 April because the information reached the news organisations too late and comparisons would thus have had little significance. Further, in the absence of pictures nearly all the news on the 28th was given "dry" in the studio from a report from the news agency Tass. One interesting fact - the news was not given full emphasis until Soviet Television announced the accident on 29 April.
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