Newspaper Coverage of New York City After Hurricane Sandy

Abstract

Hurricane Sandy affected all boroughs of New York City, but news coverage of Sandy was not equal across boroughs. I ask how coverage of Sandy differs in local, regional, and national papers, and which factors best predict amount of Sandy coverage. I find that local newspapers have a significantly smaller proportion of Sandy coverage than regional and national papers, for most boroughs. I also find that Hispanic/Latino percentage and storm surge population are the most significant factors in predicting amount of Sandy coverage. Number of damaged buildings, number of households destroyed, and Verified Loss (a value determined by FEMA) are also significant in most models. This suggests that while physical damage is a factor in media coverage of disasters, race also plays a role in determining which areas receive the most attention. These findings have important implications for how we think about racial and cultural bias in disaster-related news.