The China Youth Daily, The New York Times Disaster News Reports

Disaster coverage of newspaper is one of the most significant factors to measure the comprehensive quality of news agency. The representation of disaster on newspaper could produce influences on the image of newspaper, even the image of nation. In the background of fast developing media, traditional media need to find new way to face the challenge with internet. Therefore, newspaper should find their advantages and learn from western experience in order to improve their disaster reports, as well as maintain their power in markets.Base on existing research and related concepts, this paper compares and analyzes the coverage of "China Youth Daily" and "New York Times" for the2011earthquake in eastern Japan. Using content analysis to compare news coverage of the disaster of the two newspapers, and summarize the similarities and differences. In the end, this paper gives some suggestion on the news reports of disaster under the new media environment.By comparison, reporting in time and all the time has become the basic requirements of the disaster reports; and two newspapers reported select a theme based on the particularity of the disaster; its theme of domestic disaster reports improves readability; news written by newspaper reporters highlight the strength of the newspapers of high-quality editorial team.China Youth Daily blended propagation and information together, meanwhile emphasized the function to lead public opinion. In comparison, the New York Times pay more attention on faults of people; reported disaster richer in depth; more concerned about the economic impact of the disaster; enriched their coverage through the diversification of news sources; and mutual coordination between speech versions and coverage.