1. What information is given to readers of the text? What kind of information is excluded?
This is an article from The Toronto Star published on March 20th, 2011 and it talks about how because of the tragedy in Japan, the Japanese police have estimated that the death toll will exceed 18 000 people. It says that the hardest hit area was Miyagi, with an estimed death toll of over 15 000 with a confirmed 3400 more deaths in Iwate, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Aomori and Chiba provinces, as well as seven dead in Tokyo. It also tells us that The National Police Agency said the overall number of bodies collected so far stood at 8,649, while 12,877 people have been listed as missing. The kind of information that is excluded is the amount of each gender that is dead, how the police found the bodies, where they found them, how long it took them, etc.
2. Would you consider the text to be disaster pornography? Sensationalism? Why or why not?
I would consider this article to be more disaster pornography rather than sensationalism. I think this way because along with the rest of most newspapers, channels, etc., all they've been covering is what's going on in Japan. That's practically all you hear in the news for the past couple weeks. It isn't necessarily showing graphic images in this particular article but it is definitely talking about the mass death and destruction that has gone on in Japan.
3. What does the purpose of the text appear to be?
It seems to me that the purpose of his text is first and foremost to inform people of what is currently going on with the Japan situation. Second of all, to show the enormous amount of damage this disaster has caused to Japan and its people. Thirdly, I think that one of the maybe not-so-obvious messages would be to get people to help the cause however they can be it donations, money, etc.
The question of whether or not it is necessary to show images of complete destruction and suffering in order to get people to donate to the cause is a difficult one to answer. You're right that it's definitely an implied message of this text, whether or not it qualifies as disaster pornography.
ReplyDelete