Abstract
This study aims to examine journalistic activities in disaster reporting by analyzing media
frames of newspaper articles covering the debris flow disaster in Atami City, Shizuoka Prefecture,
in July 2021. The deductive approach using the frame model proposed by Thorson (2012) finds
that “Blame”frame was used from the beginning and then became dominant, and that “Devastation, ” “Helplessness” frames preceded “Solidarity”frame. Such framing may have the adverse effects,
such as trivializing the universal issue as a particular region's problem, and causing convergence
of media coverage. A possible reason why journalists use these frames could be media routines, the
practices formulated within mass media organizations. A result shows that journalists are required
to reconsider media routines and frames to report the complex and multifaceted reality of disasters.
