4 - Challenges of Disaster Communication Fieldwork - Jeff Neal

Reading Summary 4: Planning for Spontaneity: The Challenges of Disaster Communication Fieldwork

Jeff Neal

Reference: Horsley, Suzanne. (2012).  Planning for Spontaneity: The Challenges of Disaster Communication Fieldwork. International Journal of Qualitative Method.

Theme: Crisis Communication and disaster communication is difficult, and even more difficult to study.  Most events occur in places researchers have never been and have not planned for, with uncertain conditions.  This article discusses the challenges and benefits of disaster research and fieldwork.

Summary: The author of this article attempts to study crisis communication during disasters using the participant-observation of a disaster response with informal on-site interviews.  The challenge is that there are not many disasters and when they do happen most occur without much notice.  Researchers must be prepared to respond quickly and to areas were the conditions are uncertain.  Imagine responding to New York during 911.  Getting into New York was almost impossible and unless you were already in the area, fights had been grounded.  Planning for this event could not have happened.  This is the reason that there is little research done during disasters.  There are times researchers can respond. 2009 Red River Valley floods in Fargo, North Dakota is an example of this.  The author states that gathering information during disasters is critical for data analysis, theory development, and practical application. Benefits of observational research include the researcher not asking participants to perform in any unnatural way (i.e., filling out a survey or taking part in an experiment), but instead allowing the researchers presence to be accepted as they go about their business.

Application to the lesson topic: Planning is important to effectively operate in a disaster.  One critical element is research.  In the fire service we would always have a debriefing following an incident to discuss the good and bad strategies and tactics used during the incident.  The evaluation of data is what has helped develop current systems that are in place.   

Application to emergency services: It's extremely difficult to study communications during a disaster. Simulating the stress and situational difficulties that accompany a disaster is a challenge but could be the best approach to prepare for the actual event. Because when the disaster happens is on the job training which does not always produce the best results.

Lesson 2 Reading Summary: Divergence of Duty

Reading Summary 2:

Jeff Neal, Sept. 12, 2013

Reference: Hindman, Elizabeth Blanks (1999), Divergence of Duty: Difference in legal and Ethical Responsibilities. Journal of Mass Media Ethics, vol.14 issue 4, p213

Theme: Although law and ethics intertwine and often share vocabulary, they are different.  

Summary:

·         The ATF was investigating the Davidians, a religious group known as the Branch Davidians, for  possession of weapons and potential gun law violations. The Davidians lived on a 70 acre compound in Waco Texas. The ATF (Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms) planned and set a target date for the arrest of Koresh and search of the compound.

·         In addition the Waco Tribune-Herald newspaper was investigating Koresh the Davidians' leader and planned a seven-part series, discussing allegations of child sexual abuse and concerns that authorities were doing nothing.

·         On February 28, 1993 the ATF raided the compound and a shootout between the Davidians and agents from the ATF began.  When it was over, four federal agents and a number of Davidians dead, and more wounded. The standoff lasted 51 days.  Over this time more than 75 Davidians  and ATF agents were killed, and more were wounded.

·         Hindman stated that the shootout began a series of legal and ethical discussions about the local media's role in the initial shootout, culminating in an SPJ Waco Task Force report and over 100 lawsuits--later combined into a single case--claiming the media's negligence caused the injuries and deaths of the ATF agents.

·         ATF and Tribune-Herald officials of Waco met many times to discuss what was happening.  The ATF requested that the media delay their publication and TV series several times over the 51 days, but the media refused to delay the publication.  The media reviled when the raids would take place, and other important information about the ATFD activities.  The release of the information was being watched by the Davidians which gave them all the information they needed to prepare for the ATF raid.

·         The ATF argued that the Medias release of information about the raid caused the death and injury to the agents in the raid. The law at issue in this case is of negligence, "failure to exercise that degree of care which a person of ordinary prudence would exercise under the same circumstances".

Application to the lesson topic: The media can act within the law but not act ethically.   This article addresses what cause the shooting in Waco Texas, in 1993. The media played a major role in what happens.  They did not break the law but acted unethically and their actions which caused harm and contributed to the agents and Davidians that were shoot that day.  The media violated their ethical duty to minimize harm.  The AFT should have controlled what they released to the media and done a better job of maintain security of information.

Application to emergency services: It's important that we remember that the media has a different objective when they respond to an incident.  They are there to get a good story.  They will at times do whatever necessary to accomplish their goal.  We can control this by keeping a secure scene and establishing a perimeter around the scene allowing only emergency service personnel in the area.  Since the new Hipaa act of 1996 was established, it is even more important that we use care in what is told to the media. The hipaa act prevents emergency responders from sharing personal information of patients and gives us the right to withhold information about patients.

Negative Relationship Between the Media and the ATF

Reference: Hindman, E. B. (1999). Divergence of Duty: Differences in Legal and Ethical Responsibilities. Journal of mass Media Ethics, Vol. 14 Issue 4, p.213.18p

Theme: When the media covered the news story about a shootout between the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and a religious cult they overlooked some ethical issues.

Summary:

            Michael Newland

·         Shots fired when the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) tried to arrest the leader of a religious cult in Waco, Texas.

·         The religious groups’ name was known as the Branch Davidians.

·         The shootout/standoff left four federal agents and a number of Davidians dead, with several more wounded.

·         Standoff lasted 51 days which ended with a fire that killed more than 75 Davidians.

·         In 1992 the ATF started to investigate the Davidian’s possession of weapons and potential gun law violations. The ATF were planning to arrest the cult leader on gun charges.

·         At the same time, the WACO Tribune-Harold newspaper also began to investigate the cult. The newspaper was focusing on child sexual abuse allegations and concerns that authorities were doing nothing about it.

·         The ATF asked the newspaper to delay the series but the editor declined to delay their reports. The ATF also stated they planned to make an arrest but did not say when.

·         Since the ATF would not give information about the arrest the newspaper refused to delay their reports.

·         The newspaper found out when the ATF planned to raid the cult. The ATF changed the raid date but the newspaper found out again and put out a story called “The Sinful Messiah.”

·         As the ATF began preparing for the raid on the cult that same newspaper also appeared on scene.

·         Allegedly one of the newspaper photographers informed a cult member that the ATF was planning to raid.

·         An undercover ATF agent found out that the cult new about the raid. The ATF decided to continue on anyways.

·         After the shootout several ATF agents and the victims’ families filed a negligence lawsuit against members of the media including the Tribune-Herald the newspaper agency that refused to stop their reports about the cult and the ATF.

·         The judge over the trial stated, “In this case, the balancing of factors clearly establishes that the media defendants owed a duty to the Plaintiffs not to warn the Davidians, either intentionally or negligently, of the impending raid.”

·         The case was settled before trial, so whether media were legally negligent will never be known.

Application to the lesson topic: The media played a huge role in the shootout between the ATF and the religious cult. The media has a right to inform the public about what is going on and they should but they took it a little too far this time. The ATF asked the newspaper several times to stop their reports but they refused too. If it weren’t for the newspaper the cult would not have found out about the raid and many lives could have been saved. This goes to show that a good relationship between the media and emergency services is vital. Technically the newspaper didn’t do anything illegal but it was not ethical for them to release so much information about the raid.

Application to emergency services: The media is always looking for a breaking news story. Often this story comes from emergencies involving police work. In this case the media was all over the religious cult and how they thought nothing was being done about it. The ATF was working on it but they didn’t want the media to know too much information about it. If the ATF had been a little more open to the newspaper then they might have been more cooperative. Again this goes to show how important the relationship between the media and emergency services is important.