Ethical tensions in disaster coverage: a qualitative thematic analysis of rescue-moment broadcasting after the 2023...

Disaster coverage informs the public yet may expose victims at moments of extreme vulnerability. This study examined how televised rescue-moment broadcasting after the 6 February 2023 Turkey earthquake intersected with bioethical principles relevant to public health.

Using reflexive thematic analysis, we analyzed 60 rescue-moment videos from two national broadcasters (public and private). Focusing strictly on presented content, we coded ethically salient visuals and discourses (identity disclosure, medical interventions, and emotional framing) and developed themes through iterative reflection among researchers.

Two overarching categories characterized coverage: (1) normalized discursive presentation-open identity disclosure, emotional dramatization, and routinized live "rescue shows"; and (2) privacy-insensitive visual content-unblurred faces, filming of medical interventions, and overt displays of trauma amid crowd convergence.

These practices often conflicted with privacy, dignity, and non-maleficence, underscoring the need for trauma-informed disaster communication.

We analyzed content only, not journalists intentions or newsroom processes.

Findings inform ethical guidelines for disaster reporting and training programs integrating bioethics and journalism ethics.