Tokyo, April 01: Lack of clarity in Japan’s official news outlets about the nuclear crisis after the massive quake and tsunami, has driven people to find information on the internet.
Reports by Japan’s official news agencies about the explosions in the reactors of the quake-hit Fukushima nuclear power plant were sometimes delayed and contradictory.
This lack of clarity caused the Japanese people to lose their trust in the reports released by the country’s main news agencies.
Although Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) extensively covered news about the quake, tsunami and ensuing nuclear explosions, but many internet users believed its reports to be unclear and even biased.
People turned to internet to find more information regarding the looming crises.
During the aftermath of March 11 earthquake and tsunami, YokosoNews which is operated by one person, interrupted its regular schedule and dedicated its broadcast to the latest news gathered from Japanese news stations by translating them to English.
Social networks are also overflowing with news about Japan’s earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis.
Japan’s crises proved that internet and social networks can have multiple uses. The Japanese internet users describe their situation via Twitter and Facebook, and try to depict part of their sorrow and suffering through uploading pictures and films.
The Japanese people living in the quake-hit areas and are threatened by the radiation leaked from the damaged Fukushima power plant, social networks are more valuable.
On Radioaktive Now page on the Facebook, the citizens of these areas inform other people from the level of radioactivity in the air.
In the Japan.person-finder website which has been created by Google, the name of missing people or some information about them can be published. More than 150,000 cases have been so far published on the site.
——–Agencies