Media Coverage of 9/11 and the Iraq War

Liz Desmond, Lindsay Siebert, and Samantha Derosa

A Montage of the Tragedy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HcX3iffQcI

The Early Hours What is a paradigm?

Specific way of reporting an incident involving large-scale destruction

Human error/accident or natural disasters

What was the dominant paradigm in the 9/11 coverage?

Started as accident

Ended as deliberate attack

Paradigms- Angles of 9/11 Coverage

What is a scalar expression? Finding words and patterns for events, especially in

tragedy

“Attack” and “attacked” were used in over 40% of all headlines

“Terror” and “terrorist acts” were used in 30% of all headlines

The other words used in headlines were disaster, horror, chaos, infamy, and devastation

Over 1/3 of all headlines the day of 9/11 included “America or US attacked”, “attack on America”, or America under attack”

CNN at an early stage began to display a caption in its coverage, “America Under Attack”

“Do not say what you know to be untrue; and, more particularly, do not put into public domain something which might prove to be drastically wrong.”

“Getting it right.”

Do you feel that the media used phrases like “America under attack” too soon? If so, why?

Where were those who needed to address the media?

President Bush – in an elementary school, addressed the media briefly at the time

Vice President Cheney- was immediately sent to a White House bunker

Secretary of State Powell was flying back from South America – unavailable

How do political leaders affect the media in times of disaster?

The media portrayed the US as taken by surprise. What in the media made us think that this was a surprise and did we have any prior knowledge?

What was most difficult about covering 9/11 in terms of the media?

http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/news/as-it-happened%3A-abc-news-coverage-of-9_11-attacks

Embedded Journalism

Refers to journalists being attached to military units during armed conflict

Term first came to use with the 2003 invasion of Iraq

Journalism and the War in Iraq More than 500 journalists embedded

Journalists given special procedures and guidelines

Required to sign documents complying with the rules set out at the beginning about what they could or could not report

Gave smaller, locally based newspapers presence

Problems with the Embedding Process

Started off with a wave of enthusiasm from both military and news organizations, but it was not long before tensions began to emerge.

Apprehension about the ability to maintain impartiality

Embedded journalism gave the public a distorted picture of the war

Only provides snap shot of the war

Safety of journalists

Journalists in the Iraq War

On April 8, 2003, during the US-led invasion of Iraq,

Al Jazeera correspondent Tareq Ayoub was killed when

a US warplane bombed Al Jazeera's headquarters in Baghdad.

More journalists were killed during the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq than in any war in history.

Journalists "Should Not Be There"

Safety for the Journalists

The need for safety measures is becoming a major issue in war reporting.

What came of this? Risk awareness training, social protection(life insurance), free medical treatment and protection of freelance or part-time employees.

Aside from causalities, journalists received threats and experienced expulsions, detentions and confiscation of equipment.

http://fair.org/take-action/media-advisories/iraq-and-the-media/

Knowing what you know about the dangers of reporting in countries within the Middle East, Africa, and North Korea, etc., would you still have the courage to go over and fulfill your journalistic duties?

Discussion According to the article, “Stages of a Crisis and Media Frames and Functions: U.S.

Television Coverage of the 9/11 Incident During the First 24 Hours,” media outlets had to act on their own understanding of the situation due to the lack of official sources. Do you think that the media should assume the role of national leader in times of crisis or wait until official sources can be reached?

Did the CIA cover up its advance knowledge of at least two of the 9/11 hijackers? - if so, how did this affect media coverage?

Who was really in charge on the morning of 9/11 - Bush or Cheney?

What really happened aboard Flight 93?

Did the media leave too much room for error when first broadcasting the news?

References http://www.wanttoknow.info/911newsarticles

http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/news/as-it-happened%3A-abc-news-coverage-of-9_11-attacks

http://fair.org/take-action/media-advisories/iraq-and-the-media/