震災後のメディア研究,ジャーナリズム研究 : 問われる「臨床の知」の倫理と実践のあり方(<特集>震災後のメディア研究,ジャーナリズム研究)

抄録

This paper discusses the questions of how scholars in the media and communication research fields can contribute to society after its being damaged by the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami that occurred on 11 March, 2011. Defined mainly by the explosion of the nuclear power station in Fukushima, it was a disaster that divided Japanese history into everything that happened before and everything that happened after it, raising radical questions concerning the advancement of science and technology in the modern era. As an academic association with a history of 60 years and more than 1,000 members, the Japan Society for Studies in Journalism and Mass Communication has taken the initiative through the holding of workshops and symposiums in tackling such themes as risk communication at times of disaster and corporate media's role and social responsibility in the face of unprecedented disasters. However, what has been decidedly lacking so far is the critical reflection of the approaches implemented to conduct communication research in the disaster-stricken areas, or the evaluation of how research results affect the flow of actual information and communication activities within local communities. While outlining some of the characteristics of this catastrophe, I argue that we should pursue an interdisciplinary and pragmatic approach based upon interaction with people at disaster-stricken sites in order to meet the critical needs of those most in need, and engage with a wide variety of subtle, local problems in the disaster-stricken areas. In addressing the challenges we face in the area of media and communication research, I also mention present difficulties in accessing past television data in Japan, which prevents us from conducting systematic research on television. The media's reluctance to make television data available for the use of research constitutes a serious obstacle to scholarly advancement in this field.