Perceptions of Newspaper Labor Unions in the Tohoku Region on the Local Situation Ten Years after the Great East Japan Earthquake

This document summarized the responses to a questionnaire survey of newspaper labor unions in the Tohoku Region (Japan Federation of Newspaper Workers' Unions Tohoku Regional Federation) regarding their situation 10 years after the Great East Japan Earthquake. This was originally published as an appendix to the article entitled “The Potential for Collaboration between Geography and Local Media: Toward Disaster Prevention and Disaster Reporting in Tohoku Region after the Great East Japan Earthquake" in Quarterly Journal of Geography (Volume 73, Issue 3, pages 178-193, 2021).

The survey was conducted from September to October 2020. The questions includes (1) changes in local communities, (2) changes in internal systems and awareness of earthquake and disaster response in your company, (3) changes in the situation and awareness of interview sites for news, (4) changes in the news distribution of disaster and disaster prevention by print newspapers, the Internet, and SNS, (5) changes in corporate responses to disasters, (6) status of BCP formulation, (7) changes in relationships with readers, advertisers, and local communities, and (8) other special remarks and free descriptions. For items (1) through (7), the respondents were asked to add their ratings of somewhat positive, not much change, or somewhat negative. The survey was sent to 11 affiliated unions via the Tohoku Regional Headquarters, and responses were received from six unions in each prefecture except for Akita Prefecture. We received responses from six labor unions in each prefecture except for Akita Prefecture, including responses from labor unions of advertising-related companies as well as labor unions of newspaper companies. Some responses are written with notes saying that they are personal viewpoints of the respondents. All the responses are in Japanese.