Media ethics and trauma

Jeff Martin 

Reading Summary 2

Reference: Muller, D. (2010). Ethics and trauma: lessons from media coverage of Black Saturday. Australian Journal of Rural Health, 18(1), 5-10. doi:10.1111/j.1440-1584.2009.01117.x

Theme:  Media response to restricted access areas within a disaster zone may be varied, and some were viewed as unethical.  There was a lack of consensus on what was ethical.

Summary:  In February, 2009 there was a large brushfire in Victoria, Australia.  173 people died and 414 were injured.  The media scrambled to get access to the affected areas and were stopped at government roadblocks.  However, there was no consensus among media people about the correct ethical response to roadblocks.  In general, media people tended to place a higher value on successfully meeting the competitive pressures under which they work, and on carrying out what they saw as their duty to inform the public, than on the countervailing ethical duty to respect the law.

• The range of responses was wide:
•  Find another way in
•  Get past by chance
•  Get past by deception
•  Resist deception
•  Accept the roadblock
• Journalist’s response to respect of private property was also varied.  The responses ranged from staying off of private property completely, to sifting through ashes at the sites of burned down homes where people had died.
• These are concrete ethical questions to which the media’s codes of ethics give only the most abstract – and sometimes ambiguous – attention.

Other reading:   It’s not the role of our media and our journalists to shield us from truth; it’s their job to confront us with it. In this respect, the plurality of imagery is both a blessing and a curse, because in the sort of panic that follows an event like yesterday’s bombing, anything could be real.

Hawking, T. (2013).  The Ethics of Disaster Photography in the Age of Social Media.  Flavorwire.com, retrieved from: http://flavorwire.com/385270/the-ethics-of-disaster-photography-in-the-age-of-social-media/

Application: Journalists, much like the rest of society, are bound by ethical rules.  Also, just like the rest of us, they are all individual people who will subjectively interpret these rules as they will.  Some will view laws and rules as solid and concrete.  Others will see a certain situation as unique, and will say that the rules and laws do not apply or can be bent. 

Regarding the Pain of Others

Jeffrey Martin

Lesson 1 Reading Summary

Moeller, S. D. (2006). "REGARDING THE PAIN OF OTHERS":MEDIA, BIAS AND THE COVERAGE OF DISASTERS. Journal of International Affairs, 173-196.

Theme:  The media is biased in its coverage of disasters. 

Summary:  News Outlets will pick and choose which stories to present in America based on sensationalism and how much they think it will shake people up.  The disasters covered by the media often differ from those focused in on by governments and world aid organizations.  “The American media covered the hurricanes in the United States to a far greater extent than disasters elsewhere despite great disparities in casualty figures” (Moeller, 2006). 

·         Media sources tend to focus on controversy, Americans at risk, violence, and human interest stories. 

·         American media usually focuses on American stories.  “While network television has increasingly abdicated the role of covering international news with its own correspondents and world events are covered poorly if at all in most media outlets” (Moeller, 2006). 

·         News stations will often resort to showing the worst side of disasters, rather than focusing on the good happening.

·         Death and destruction sell, neighbors helping one another does not.

I often grow tired of news stations only focusing on the negative aspects of disasters.  During the cleanup of Hurricane Katrina, the media focused in on the worst possible aspects of the disaster.  They also reported what was sensational and what was popular.  Much of what was initially reported was based on conjecture and hearsay, and ended up being false. There was little coverage of those who were able to heed government warnings and evacuate. 

This is important to remember, because as emergency responders we will be in the lime light during disasters.  How we respond can be ignored (good deeds) or focused in on (mistakes/bad things) by the media.  We must be careful how we conduct ourselves.  We have seen time and time again where the media has vilified a good public servant, and this person gets forced out of their job.

Other reading:  Fisher, J. (2011). Media and disaster public policy. Unpublished manuscript, Emergency

Services, Utah Valley University, Orem, Utah.

“One of the immediate results of news coverage of Katrina, was the firing of Michael

Brown, the director of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), in the midst of

government response to the hurricane” .

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. 

Media: Its impact on Disaster

John Scardena

Reference:

Houston, J. (2008). Experiencing disasters indirectly: how traditional and new media disaster coverage impacts youth. Prevention Researcher, 15(3), 14-17.

Theme:

Media can indirectly blast children after a disaster, but there is a growing risk with more media sources

Summary:

-All over the World, weather locally or internationally children were negatively affected by the events in 9/11.

- The stress from seeing images shown by media sources hurt children.

-Youth feel in danger as a result of viewing disasters via media.

-Children that have been exposed to media show Post Traumatic Stress.

-Media today has lower standards; they are based on how many people will be impressed by them, not the morality of the shot.

-Media today makes children form thoughts and opinions based on the graphic images they see not by the history books.

 - Children that were exposed to 9/11 via the internet showed greater trauma.

-It is the responsibility of adults to understand what children are watching around them.

Application to Lesson Topic:

            This lesson is all about how much we really do soak up from the media. This article is a perfect example of the exposure of that source it has on us. I believe that we need to be aware that media is a for profit business and to use it as a tool and not as the library.

Application to Emergency Services:

            I think just as important to be aware of what the media and the images it pushes on people, we need to be aware of the dangers of what happens when they see these disasters first hand. We can be positive to the media; we can keep calm and give hope. If we as responders show hope, we can move the message in a positive way. 

Analysis of Media Agenda Setting During and After Hurricane Katrina: Implications for Emergency Preparedness, Disaster Response, and Disaster Policy

Joseph Galbraith

Reference: Barnes, M, PhD, Hanson, C. Novilla, N., Meacham, A. McIntyre, E.

(2008). Analysis of Media Agenda Setting During and After Hurricane Katrina: Implications for Emergency Preparedness, Disaster Response, and Disaster Policy. American Journal of Public Health. Pgs 604-610

Theme: The media has the ability to shape public perception during and after a disaster which in turn can affect public policy.

Summary:

• Statistical analysis was conducted on four prominent newspapers on the Hurricane Katrina Disaster.

• Most of the news stories focused on response as opposed to preparedness.

• The federal government was the focus of blame rather than the individual citizens.

• The efforts of public health officials and practitioners to market preparedness through the media is not a priority for the news outlets before the disaster.

•78% of the news stories focused on response and recovery.  8.9% focused mitigation and preparation.

• 40% of the articles focused on accountability of the federal government.  13.8% attributed blame to the individual citizens.

• The overwhelming negative tone expressed towards the federal government's response forced government officials to consider policy changes.

Application to the lesson topic:

The media can play a large role in the shaping of public opinion which will in turn force policy makers to consider changes.  The agenda of the media can produce bias and sometimes false information.

Application to emergency services:

In emergency services we have to learn how to use the media to our advantage.  We must know how to market our product using the media.  This relationship starts well before the disaster using our information officers.  We must also understand the agenda and goals of the particular media outlet that we are dealing with.  Sometimes we have no choice but to play to their agenda in order to push out information in times of crisis.

The Role of the Media and Media Hypes in the Aftermath of Disasters

The Role of the Media and Media Hypes in the Aftermath of Disasters

Reading Summary #1 ESMG 4200

Jeff Neal

References: 

Vasterman, Peter, Yzermans,  Joris and Dirkzwager, Anja. (2004). The Role of the Media and Media Hypes in the Aftermath of Disasters. Oxford Journals, Volume 27,  Issue 1, p.  107-114,  http://epirev.oxfordjournals.org/content/27/1/107.full

Theme: This article discusses the affect the media has no the health of a community following a disaster.  Many times the health of a community decreases due to the mass amount of media attention to the disaster. And many people that were not affected by the disaster are affected by the media.

Summary: There are more disasters today then every in History because there are more people.  If an earthquake hit North America in the year 1500 no one would know about it.  It may have happened but no one was around to document it. The media plays a major role in public policy today.  Emergency service workers cannot do anything without a mass amount of media coverage.  This media coverage not only affects policy's it affects the health of a community following a disaster.  According the Vasterman the media uses keywords like disaster, hystia, health concerns, and plays events over and over again following an incident. This repeated use of keywords combined with long term coverage of an event is detrimental to a community.  Studies conducted by Vasterman and his associates examined hundreds of articles and media coverage and found that this repeated use of words and repeated coverage of a disaster caused the public health to decrease. One example of this was the 911.  The media played the images of 911 over and over, repeating the same images of the aircraft hitting the world trade center.  This media coverage is believed to have caused the  "Manhattan cough" and "World Trade Center syndrome".  Patients that had no exposure to 911, and worked in areas with good air quality still complained of these two health issues following 911.  When looking at all disasters Vasterman stated that not only did the health of a community decrease but the number of visits to the local health clinics and hospitals increased drastically.  The Medias effect on communities is evident, and according to this article media coverage of disasters may be doing more harm than good. As emergency responders we need to be aware of the negative affect media has on our community.

Application to the lesson topic: As emergency service providers we need not only be prepared for a disaster but we also need to be prepared for the media impact on the community after the disaster.  Our call volume will increase and the public will be at a higher level of awareness. 

Application to emergency services:  I saw the impact of the media related to anthrax while I was working for Salt Lake City Fire.  We had an Anthrax incident in a business, and the media coverage was extreme.  Following this event the media coverage cause the public to be at a high level of awareness. Any time a letter or box with white powder was found we were called in on a possible anthrax problem.  We would respond and evacuate the building or post office, call in hazmat and then wait while until the substance was identified.  99% of the responses ended in a false report, the substances were not anthrax.  During this time we also responded on numerous patients claiming to have been exposed to anthrax. This run of anthrax calls was cause by the media.

Research about the Mass Media and Disaster: Never (Well Hardly Ever) the Twain Shall Meet

By Sylvia Keareney

References:  McEntire, D. A. (2007). Disciplines, Disasters and Emergency Management: The Convergence and Divergence of Concepts, Issues and Trends From the Research Literature. Springfield: Charles C Thomas Publisher, LTD. (Chapter 6, pp 75)

Theme:  Everyone has their own opinion as to what might happen after a major disaster, however definitive knowledge only comes from first hand experience. This includes Mass Communication and Journalism. Most of the time opinions are different and knowledge is hardly ever shared, which causes irreconcilable differences.

Summary:

• There is a substantial research by scholars in a number of disciplines and by scholars in Journalism and Mass Communications. The two appear unaware of what each other is doing.
• Cross-referencing is rare. The scholarship shows that the media can play a critical role before, during and after such incidents.
• The media are essential, for example, for warnings to be effective and may be the single most important source of public information in the wake of a disaster.
• The scholarship also shows that media reports that distort what happens in a disaster and lead to misunderstandings.
• Failure by officials to issue a warning, may be a result of the myth that people panic, a myth perpetuated by the media.
• Media scholarship also shows, however, that in one area where the media are often criticized they are not guilty as charged: the limited research available suggests many victims and relatives of victims welcome the presence of the media and do not see journalists as intruders.

Application to the Lesson Topic: The word is unity. A common ground, a change of culture, a change of values and norms are necessary to see improvements. As Rudyard Kipling once said, “Oh, East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet.” (Kipling, R.) If Mass Communication and Journalism could get together and communicate and share information instead creating this marketing strategy of competition, we would be a lot more informed. For example, if I have an idea and you have an idea, we both have only one idea. However, if I share my idea with you and you share your idea with me, then we both have two ideas.

Application to Emergency Services: Emergency Services has become an important stepping-stone for the media. Through media is where information reaches the consumer. As participants in EMS, a better image can be gleaned, which could benefit EMS as a whole with possible funding for educating employees, better equipment, (like in Detroit) and other programs. “Be Prepared,” isn’t a far-fetched motto of the Boy Scouts of America. It’s a mantra everyone should follow.

Additional References

East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet. (n.d.). The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Retrieved September 05, 2013, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet

.