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Sharing news on 3/11 disasters in Japan with the world, Tokyo (Asahi Shimbun Co Ltd, Japan). |
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Project name |
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Sharing news on 3/11 disasters in Japan with the World
When the Great East Japan Earthquake hit off the coast of northeastern Japan followed by a massive tsunami on March 11 2012, we at the International Division of the Asahi Shimbun immediately decided it was our mission to keep our global readers informed of what was happening. The following day, the Fukushima nuclear crisis began, making it even more urgent for us to provide as many updates as possible.
At that time, we were still in the process of creating our new website The Asahi Shimbun AJW (http://ajw.asahi.com/), and we would update our old website only regularly.
Under the circumstances, we began uploading as many articles as possible on our Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/AJW) to provide our global readers with accurate information on the consequences of the quake and tsunami and the unveiling nuclear crisis.
We felt the eyes of the world on Japan because we received immediate feedback from readers of each article.
The number of people who clicked on the “Like ” button shot up sharply in March and exceeded the 100,000 mark by November. The number has since exceeded 140,000. We believe that our coverage on the disasters has been unparalleled. The Facebook played a crucial role in the first few weeks after the disaster. Later in the year, our new website The Asahi Shimbun AJW (http://ajw.asahi.com/category/0311disaster/) was launched with a special section devoted to the disaster.
Our coverage on the disaster through our Facebook and our AJW website has drawn the attention of many readers including experts and researchers across the world. A few months ago, we were approached by the Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies at Harvard University, which is implementing a major project called the Digital Archive of Japan’s 2011 Disasters to create a special website on the disaster. A senior project manager told us that they highly evaluated our coverage, inviting us to take part in the project, which we have accepted.
【Specific example (1)/ Active use of Facebook】
On March 16, we uploaded a story about a 9-year-old boy Toshihito Aisawa on our Facebook.(See attached file Boy (1)) The boy had fashioned a sign of cardboard and paper with his relatives’ names on it and began a solitary journey--wandering from one sad evacuation center to the next, searching for his loved ones in Miyagi Prefecture, which was devastated by the massive tsunami spawned by the March 11 magnitude-9.0 earthquake. The boy’s father, mother, grandmother and two cousins were carried away by the calamitous tsunami.
Our story drew sympathy from not only those in evacuation centers, but from concerned people across the nation and beyond. His parents were found dead a few days later.
We followed up on the story a few times. The heartbroken orphan had continued to receive messages of sympathy and support from people all over the nation and abroad. Many foreign newspapers picked up our coverage.
In March this year, an Australian boy, accompanied by his parents, visited Toshihiko in Ishinomaki, Plans for the March 10 meeting began after the Australian boy saw a picture of Toshihito in an Australian newspaper soon after the earthquake.
This is just one of many examples. We have received many comments on our articles from readers around the world. We did relay such feedback to Japanese reporters who were gathering news in the disaster-affected areas. They found these comments encouraging and often inspriging.
Using our Facebook, we also offered practical information such as a list of organizations and websites offering quake info in English, and a list of organizations that accepted donations for disaster victims.
【Specific example (2)/ Participation in Harvard University disaster archive project】
The International Division of the Asahi Shimbun is participating in a special website project being implemented by the Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies at Harvard University. The Digital Archive of Japan’s 2011 Disasters (http://jdarchive.org/explore/?la=en) is a grand attempt to record the catastrophic events and their impacts on Japan and the rest of the global community through the collection and preservation of digitalized information related to the earthquake, such as websites, text, photos, video, audio and geographic information.
We are preparing to allow the 3/11 Disaster in Japan section on our website to be accessible to the The Digital Archive of Japan’s 2011 Disasters for free. Even though our website is accessible to subscribers only, we have decided to take part in the Harvard project because we believe that our coverage on the disasters is a valuable common asset for the international community.
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General Publication Info |
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The Asahi Shimbun AJW (Asia and Japan Watch/ see attached file (2)) (http://ajw.asahi.com/), is the English digital version of the Asahi Shimbun., Japan's leading daily newspaper.
The Asahi Shimbun intends to make AJW a high-quality package of news, features and analysis-the daily “go-to” site for news about Japan and East Asia for international readers.
This March 11 Disaster in Japan section contains The Asahi Shimbun's exhaustive coverage of the March 11 M9.0 earthquake, massive tsunami and ongoing nuclear crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. It is updated daily. This section frequently runs Asahi scoops and in-depth coverage on the real story behind what is happening at the Fukushima plant and has already garnered high marks from experts, researchers and journalists around the globe.
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Content |
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In the first few weeks after the earthquake and the Fukushima nuclear crisis, we posted updates as frequently as possible on our Facebook in the belief that there was great demand for such updates from our global readers.
We have continued to offer most disaster-related coverage on the Facebook, especially updates on the Fukushima nuclear crisis, which is being closely watched by many experts and other readers across the world.
We also offer general news items in addition to our disaster-related coverage.
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Implementation and Working team |
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Because we no longer publish a print edition, our only avenue is digital. All of our editors take turns uploading stories on the Facebook as well as offering links to articles on our Twitter account. Depending on the article, we try to make our posting as visual as possible by creating a photo album.
Every morning, we make it a rule to upload a list of stories to be posted for the day so that our Facebook readers will have a fairly good sense of what’s coming up.
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Additional comments |
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LINKS |
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AJW Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/AJW.Asahi
The Asahi Shimbun AJW website
http://ajw.asahi.com/
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General contact and feedback address:
Ms. Raquel Meikle
Programme Manager Events
WAN-IFRA
Darmstadt, Germany
Phone: +49-6151-733.927
E-Mail: raquel.meikle@wan-ifra.org
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