Media Coverage of the
Events of 9/11

I agreed to do a Quick Response grant project applying my interest in media and hazards to this unimaginable disaster (QRR 146). The focus of the case study was the first twelve weeks of coverage by the Los Angeles Times (online edition).

All 558 front screen stories during the study period were classified by central concern, expressed as a single word: (1) "context," (2) "diplomacy," (3) "impact," (4) "investigation," (5) "military," (6) "mitigations," (7) "reactions," (8) "reconstruction," (9) "response," and (10) "restoration." These each included from six to 103 stories. Another seven minor categories were compressed into "other related stories." Stories "unrelated" to the events of 9/11 were also noted. Those stories related to 9/11 were further classified into one of three overarching themes or "metastories": (1) disaster, (2) crime, and (3) war.

Far and away the dominant concern through the first weeks viewed together was the military category with 103, or 18.5% of the 558 stories. Secondary themes more weakly emphasized were those of the crime investigation (n=57, or 10.2%) and of reactions to the disaster itself (n=55, or 9.9%). Dramatically de- emphasized were two other themes: context with just 6 stories (or 1.1%) and reconstruction with 9 stories (or 1.6%).

Collapsed into the three metastory categories, the dominant narrative was the war story, with 168 of the 558 stories, or 30.1 percent. The disaster story was the second most prominent metastory for the twelve-week study period, almost a co-dominant at 152 stories or 27.2 percent. The crime story was the least covered of the grand narratives, with 59 stories or 10.6 percent.

Tracking the themes week by week, the only story consistently prominent each week was the military theme. Investigation, reactions, and diplomacy flashed into prominence for between four and six weeks. In terms of the metastories, the disaster story dominated for just the first three weeks but gave way to the war story for most of the last nine weeks of the study period.

The coverage seems disproportionate in the sense that this is quite possibly the greatest disaster and crime the USA has experienced in the last five decades, but the war is one of the most minor ones in that time in terms of American casualties. For the people directly impacted by these events and involved in responding and rebuilding, their disaster stories were soon submerged under the stories of war. While the war took more and more media attention away from the needs of the victimized people and places, their needs did not just gradually and proportionately fade away with the coverage.

Suggestions for more successful dissemination of victims' needs and expert information in the disasters of the future include the following:

1. government agencies and non-governmental organizations can actively cultivate personal relationships between particular reporters and particular representatives of their organizations (e.g., Lucy Jones of Caltech and Kate Hutton of the USGS in the case of earthquakes);
2. non-governmental and victim advocacy organizations are in a position to play to the media's need for human drama by generating "newsworthy" events, including demonstrations;
3. the Internet can be used with stunning efficacy to generate public interest in and support for victims' needs and the organizations trying to meet them: E-mail, listservers, and news groups enable exponential expansion of a message to reach an audience of a size and geographical scope once the domain exclusively of national media conglomerates (e.g., WTO protests).

Soon after these terrible events, the Natural Hazards Center at Boulder called on the hazards communities to share what they knew of extreme events with those responsible for responding to this new kind of hazard, crime, and war.

I agreed to do a Quick Response grant project applying my interest in media and hazards to this unimaginable disaster (QRR 146). The focus of the case study was the first twelve weeks of coverage by the Los Angeles Times (online edition). Figure 1 provides a reference timeline of events.

Media affect the social understanding of hazards, crimes, and wars. They influence public opinion and, thereby, policy to manage these risks by directing audience attention to the particular issues that they emphasize. Literature in media analysis identifies several factors governing issue salience or obscurity. From this literature, I expected the L.A. Times' front screen coverage to evince:

• sensationalism (due to profit pressures on media subsidiaries)
• a narrow ideological spectrum on the context of the attacks (due to capital concentration in media ownership)
• reduced emphasis on poorer victims or on workers as opposed to more prosperous victims or corporate employers (due to advertising dependence and the need to attract "desirable demographics")

I used the Los Angeles Times, because it is a nationally prominent newspaper outside the two hardest-hit cities, which is also familiar to me as a resident of Los Angeles. Using the online edition facilitated collecting data directly into a spreadsheet.

This study concentrated on those stories and photographs that the editorial staff deemed so salient that they warranted front screen coverage. I captured headlines and a lead sentence or two for all articles showing both on the front screen. This typically yielded from six to eight articles each day, approximately the content of the front page of the paper editions of the Times. These added up to 558 stories for the 12 weeks of the study.

I recorded the key theme of each such article, using an inductive coding process. This iterative coding process eventually yielded ten consistently named major themes for stories related to the events of 9/11 and seven minor themes that were grouped into an eleventh code, "other related stories." Additionally, I tracked the appearance of "unrelated" stories on the front screen as a harbinger of the return to normal concerns. The twelve thematic categories, then, were:

• Context, n=6 (1.1%)
• Diplomacy, n=38 (6.8%)
• Impact, n=35 (6.3%)
• Investigation, n=57 (10.2%)
• Military, n=103 (18.5%)
• Mitigation, n=24 (4.3%)
• Reactions, n=55 (9.9%)
• Reconstruction, n=9 (1.6%)
• Response, n=19 (3.4%)
• Restoration, n=19 (3.4%)
• Other related stories, n=14 (2.5%)
• Unrelated stories, n=179 (32.1%)

The eleven categories related to the disaster and the stories in them began to converge into three overarching narratives:

• Stories of the disaster, response to it and recovery from it
• Stories about the crime and its investigation
• War stories of diplomacy, deployment, airstrikes, and the fall of the Taliban

Each theme was eventually assigned to one of these "metastories" and then the other related story category was gone through, story by story, with individual stories assigned to one of the three larger narratives. The metastory scheme was then used to classify the 82 front page photographs.

Key Themes (Figure 2)

Emphasized Themes:

Military: Far and away the dominant concern in the first 12 weeks

• n=103, or 18.5 percent of the 558 stories
• the only theme prominent for all 12 weeks

Crime Investigation: Very much a secondary theme

• n=57, or 10.2 percent
• this theme was prominent for 6 of the 12 weeks

Reactions to the disaster itself: Also a secondary theme

• n=55, or 9.9 percent
• this theme was prominent for 4 of the 12 weeks

De-Emphasized Themes:

Context of the events of 9/11 received the least front screen coverage, with just 6 stories, or 1.1 percent.

• This poor showing fits with prior work on how media perform in other hazards and disasters
• It is also consistent with the ideological narrowing linked with media ownership concentration
• It also reflects the long-established media need for drama and simplicity, which contextual information rarely satisfies.

Reconstruction: Also very little coverage (n=9, or 1.6 percent).

• This is not too surprising due to the still early stage of this disaster on the conventional post-event timeline of response-restoration-reconstruction

Metastories (Figure 3)

The war story

• the dominant narrative overall: 168 of the 558 stories, or 30.1%, and 48 of the 82 photographs, or 58.5%
• dominated most of the last 9 weeks (stories) to 10 weeks (photographs) of the study period

The disaster story

• the second most prominent metastory at 152 stories or 27.2%, and 22 of the photographs, or 26.8%
• dominated the first 2 weeks (photographs) to 3 weeks (stories) after the disaster

The crime story

• the least covered of the grand narratives at 59 stories or 10.6%, and 6 of the photographs, or 7.3%
• never attained dominance in any of the 12 weeks of the study

Disparities in coverage

Disaster Story:

The 9/11 attacks were the greatest disaster to befall the United States in the last half century

• 3,056 deaths
• huge property losses (insured losses of $10-12 billion)
• economic and personal disruptions it caused, directly and indirectly (including $7-10 billion in interrupted business insurance claims)

The disaster story was quickly displaced by the war story within 2-3 weeks of the attacks, possibly deprioritizing the needs of the victims and their cities in recovering from these horrific events

War Story:

The war to exact vengeance and dismantle terrorist networks does not compare to other wars after WWII in terms of American casualties and other losses (data: US DoD and AP)

• WWII: 405,399 American deaths
• Korea: 36,568
• Vietnam: 58,203
• Gulf War: 363
• Afghanistan: 38 (as of 06/12/02, AP)

The war story has held most of the media focus after the second to third week anyhow, perhaps expressing American anxiety about getting into an endless war.

Crime story:

At 11%, the crime story is a fairly minor strand in front screen coverage

• This minor showing is in contrast with the standing of these events as probably the greatest crime ever perpetrated within this country
• The relative quiescence of the L.A. Times may just reflect the necessary secrecy in which an investigation of this sort must be conducted

There may simply not be much information to report

Expectations

Sensationalism:

a common criticism leveled at media during disasters is evident here:

• obsessively repetitive imagery of United Flight 175 striking the South Tower on television and on the front page graphics of newspapers, including the L.A. Times
• the coverage of the anthrax bioterrorist incidents amplified public concern far above the actual numbers of people exposed, sickened, and killed by mailed anthrax, leading to pressure on physicians for wanton prescription of Cipro

Poor contextualization:

often seen in the coverage of any disaster, context is conspicuously poorly developed in coverage of the events of the 11th of September:

• only 6 stories appeared on the front screen of the L.A. Times about the geopolitical background that produced such homicidal and suicidal men
• this is a new hazard for Americans, and context is key to their understanding and preparation for this probably permanent new element in their lives

Balanced treatment of victims:

equity in front screen stories was unexpected in light of media critical literature that often draws out social inequities in disaster coverage

• to its credit, the L.A. Times has covered impacts on businesses and impacts on workers in roughly equal numbers in front screen stories
• the paper was careful to draw out the job losses cascading from these events, despite Congressional and Presidential focus on the needs of the businesses ordering the layoffs

While the war takes more and more media attention away from the needs of the victimized people and places, their needs are not just gradually and proportionally fading away at this point.

Those responsible for recovery from any extreme event have to work to get the media to focus on the needs still lingering after a disaster. The following may be effective strategies for governmental agencies and non-governmental victim advocacy organizations to consider:

• First, government agencies and NGOs can actively cultivate personal relationships between particular reporters and particular representatives of their organizations. Reporters appreciate knowing who the peer-recognized experts are ahead of time, and many do work hard at building their knowledge of a given topic. Examples:
  • the seismology team of Kate Hutton of Caltech and Lucy Jones of USGS, whom California and national media seek out whenever there's an earthquake in California
  • Jack Popejoy of L.A. radio station KFWB has a hazards "beat" among his interests and often shows up at hazards conferences to stay informed

• Second, those in non-governmental and victim advocacy organizations are in a position to play to the media's need for human drama by generating "newsworthy" events, including demonstrations.
  • media look for human drama and conflict in deciding what is newsworthy
  • a demonstration or staged confrontation sometimes generates the coverage needed to set victim and locality issues on the political agenda, particularly if the event is well publicized to media contacts

• Third, the Internet can be used to generate public interest in and support for victims' needs and the organizations trying to meet them
  • the web seems all the rage, but web pages depend on active audiences, people searching for a particular site or concept or following links
  • e-mail, listservers, and news groups are far more effective in getting the word out because of "chain-mail mathematics"
  • getting a message onto listservers or news groups can lead to passive recipients actively forwarding it to all of their Internet friends, who forward it to theirs, and so forth
  • the message's audience expands exponentially and can approach the numbers reached previously only by major national media conglomerates