Abstract
In the 2025 Bunken Forum held on March 19, this year, a symposium themed on “Urging Evacuation” was held to discuss from multiple perspectives what is needed to turn the evacuation announcements of broadcasters into actual action during disasters.
In response to natural disasters such as heavy rains and earthquakes that have frequented in recent years, broadcast media have been exploring how to communicate “information to protect lives” to the public. The discussion at the forum revealed that broadcasters have a wide range of roles to fulfill, such as addressing the “normalcy bias” that impede evacuation actions, using effective tones for evacuation calls, the roles locally rooted announcers, coordination with smartphones and apps, and collaboration with governments.
In particular, concepts such as “2.5-person disaster prevention” and “shifting from my personal issue to our issue” provided a perspective that identifies disasters not as “someone else's problem” but as “our problem.” This reaffirmed that broadcasting is not merely a means of delivering information, but a medium for communication that encourages action.
This year marks the centenary of broadcasting. At this milestone, the media need to re-recognize their responsibility to develop not only their ability to communicate information but also viewers’ ability to receive it and fulfil their role looking ahead to the next hundred years, by fostering disaster preparedness in peacetime, improving the environments of evacuation centers, and building a society that protects lives.
