网络时代新闻时效性在危机传播中的重要性

在网络时代,信息传递渠道日益增多,速度可因国际互联网的应用而达到瞬时传播,新闻更新可因之而达到即时更新;在这样的时代背景下,重视传媒危机报道的时效性对于传媒能否在危机管理中有效发挥正面作用至关重要.在全球化时代,这种作用反映在对内、对外两个层面,对内有助于澄清信息与消除不确定性带来的恐慌,对外有助于把一个负责任的、对待事关人民生活的突发性危机事件应对有方、从容不迫的国家形象树立在国际公众面前.

Significance of Timeliness in Crisis Communication in the Internet Age

Surveillance of the environment ranks among the four major social functions of the media.During a crisis,communication activities by the professional communicators-media organizations and media professionals-play an important role in the offering of related information and in crisis management.Crisis,as "an unstable situation of extreme danger or difficulty," entails immediate response by the public.Media coverage of the crisis,therefore,must be prompt and timely.This determines the extraordinary significance of timeliness in crisis reporting.This article addresses this issue in connection with the new development in people's conception of timeliness in the Internet Age.It points out:In the Internet Age,information channels have increased exponentially and transmission speed has reached the point of instantaneous communication as information updating is instant.Within this context,attention paid to timeliness in crisis reporting is crucial to media's positive role in crisis management.Moreover,it argues that in the present age of globalization,this positive role of the media is reflected in two dimensions-domestic and international.Domestically,media's positive role in crisis management means that crisis communication by the media helps to clarify related information and banish uncertainty-trigged fear/panic among the public.Internationally,it means that media's crisis communication contributes to projecting an image in front of the international community,for our country,of a responsible,resourceful state calm in its response to a crisis that affects people's life.