UA to Conduct Media Research for Department of Homeland Security

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – A team of researchers at The University of Alabama are planning to study the use of media messages during emergencies, as part of the Center for the Study of High Consequence Event Preparedness and Response funded by a $15 million, three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

This center will utilize a consortium of universities to study preparation for disasters – high consequence events – with special emphasis on acts of terrorism, addressing the technical, systemic, behavioral and organizational challenges. Through its Centers of Excellence program, Homeland Security is investing in university-based partnerships to develop centers of multi-disciplinary research where important fields of inquiry can be analyzed and best practices developed, debated and shared.

Dr. William Evans, director of UA’s Institute for Communication and Information Research, will lead the UA research.

“When terrorists strike, people turn on their televisions, hoping to be informed about what is happening and whether or not they are in danger,” Evans said. “Our group will be working to understand how people use media during high consequence events. We’ll also work to improve journalists’ preparedness to cover high consequence events.”

The consortium is being led by Johns Hopkins University, where Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff recently announced the center development. Several universities in Alabama will be involved, with the University of Alabama at Birmingham coordinating.

UA has worked with UAB on media research funded primarily by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, studying journalists’ preparedness to cover threats to public health such as bioterrorism and emerging infectious diseases.

“We’ll help homeland security agencies and journalists become better prepared to disseminate crucial information during emergencies and disasters,” Evans said.

“This center will help us understand how we can minimize the likelihood of high consequence events and what we need to do to respond most effectively when high consequence events occur.”

The Center for the Study of High Consequence Event Preparedness and Response will be a component of the Science and Technology Directorate’s Centers of Excellence Program – a networked, integrated, university-based system that contributes to the department’s mission to secure the United States against terrorism through research and education.

A high consequence event is any event that would kill or injure many people or severely disrupt a community. DHS is interested in high-consequence terrorism because of its unfamiliarity to both specialists and the general public. The sparse historical record and the impossibility of realistic full-scale experiment make research into high-consequence terrorist acts vitally important.

UA’s Institute for Communication and Information Research, known as ICIR, is among the most advanced facilities for communication and information research in the nation. Founded in 1990, the ICIR works with faculty, doctoral students and staff on research funded by government agencies and media organizations. The ICIR features a wide range of equipment and facilities specifically designed to support media research, including a survey research laboratory, a content analysis laboratory, focus group facilities, an audience response theater and physiological data collection capacities. The ICIR is the home of the peer-reviewed journals Media Psychology and Journal of Entertainment Theory and Research. The latter is scheduled to begin publication in 2006.