재난보도 방송언어의 오류 유형 및 개선 방향 -세월호 사고를 중심으로- = A study on the use of language in disaster broadcasting and suggestions for its improvement: Focusing on Sewol Ferry Disaster

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This study, as part of the Language Culture Improvement Movement, examines the language use in disaster broadcasting with the aim of preparing guidelines for appropriate language use in disaster news reporting. The analysis is carried out on news reports on the Sewol ferry disaster between April 10, 2014 and April 30, 2014 by three terrestrial broadcasters(KBS News 9, MBC Newsdesk, SBS 8 News) and three general cable TV channels(ChannelA News, MBN News 8, JTBC News 9). The collected news reports analyzed in terms of the following five criteria: normativeness(ungrammatical or unnatural expressions) accuracy(unfounded or unsourced information, conjectures, exaggeration, or abstruse expressions), decency(sensational or crude language), fairness(emotionally-charged, discriminatory, or biased language), comprehensibility(hard to understand terminology or Chinese and foreign words). The results are as follows: 20.9% of abstract words, 13.9% of obscure Chinese and foreign words, 13.0% of sensational language, 10.3%, of conjecture words, 10.2% of biased language, 7.6% of unfounded or unsourced information, 6.0% of non-normative and 5.9% of exaggerated word. Based on the results, the following measures for improvement are proposed. First disaster broadcasting should use language whose sentence constituents grammatically and semantically agree with each other for the speedy delivery of relevant information. Second, disaster broadcasting should reveal details of the source of information. Third, disaster broadcasting should refrain from using conjectures, and acknowledge their use if unavoidable. Fourth, disaster broadcasting should not exaggerate in order to stress or highlight ``a certain situation``. Fifth, disaster broadcasting should use plain language for accurate delivery of information.