2 - The Waco Watch - Andrea Graff

Andrea Graff

Reference:  Holley, J. (1993). The Waco watch. Columbia Journalism Review. (pp. 50-53).

Theme: Questioning the way journalists do their jobs.

Summary:

• Reporters were accused of alerting cult members to a possible raid either by a phone call or by "starting the series before the raid took place".

• The media broadcast messages from Koresh, the cult leader, resulting in the release of some of the children.

• A radio station was criticized for undermining federal authorities negotiating strategy when they flew a banner for the Branch Davidians.

• The vice president of a radio station said they did not have a "blanket policy" about cooperating with authorities.

Application to this lesson topic:
In this case the media was being accused of warning of the raid on the ranch, which they deny, and also of not cooperating with authorities when it came to airing stuff without permission.

Application to Emergency Services:
Just be really careful when it comes to reporters, they can be your best asset, or your worst nightmare. Make sure someone is briefing them so they don't feel the need to dig for their own information and that the information they get is accurate.

1 -Media bias and coverage of disasters - Andrea Graff

Andrea Graff

Reference: Moeller, S. (2006). "Regarding the pain of others": media, bias and the coverage of international disasters. Journal of International Affairs. (pp. 173-196).

Theme: Media bias and the coverage of international disasters

Summary:

• The amount of air time a certain disaster receives is influenced by who is evaluating it and usually when something is reported heavily in the news it is because a celebrity is backing it.

• If the disaster is in a part of the world we use as a vacation destination there will be far more attention than a place no one really knows about even if the death toll is quadruple in the unknown area.

• When there is no political controversy attached to a disaster the media will give it more time because no one will be critical and people will donate freely knowing they aren't furthering a political agenda.

• "Simple emergencies" are those which are considered "Acts of God" and call for a straight forward humanitarian response. On the contrary are "complex emergencies" which are man-made disasters where humans are at fault. These demand humanitarian relief, social, political and even military attention. These are costly and time time consuming for the media to cover. 

Application to the lesson topic:
All disasters should be known to people via the news. They should all be unbiased and facts should be all that is reported.

Application to emergency services:
I guess just make sure that the media has accurate facts and knows the real story.

3 - Leadership Through the Blur - Ray Huntzinger

Leading Through the Blur: Leadership in Difficult Times

ESMG 4200 Reading Summary #3



Ray Huntzinger

Reference:

Kerfoot, K. (2001, December). Leading through the blur: Leadership in
difficult times. Dermatology Nursing, 13(6), pp. 450-451.

Theme:

The theme of the article was that leadership requirements are
ever-changing and dynamic; and true leadership can only be measured by
how well a leader adapts during the difficult times.

Summary:

--Leadership abilities are measured in difficult times as most leaders
can survive when times are easy.

--Leadership in the face of terrorism will cause leaders to learn and
grow; those who choose these actions over fear will be successful.

--Successful leadership requires focused "community building" during
difficult times.

--To survive, leaders must look at adversity as a new chapter in their
lives and ultimately take advantage of the learning opportunity.

--Leaders must lead by example, particularly when it comes to showing
compassion.

--Leaders must foster an inner peace, avoiding negativity, hatred, or
self-loathing.

--Leaders must rise to the occasion and keep the "spirit of the
organization" alive.

Application to the lesson topic:

The article relates to the lesson topic because its ideas require
strong, decisive, and honest leadership. In addition, effective
communication skills are required to implement any of the suggested
strategies.

Application to emergency services:

The leadership ideas described in the article would make any emergency
service leader more effective. The Emergency services require
positivity, decisive, compassionate, proactive, and community-based
leadership ideals, just as the article suggests.

3- Leadership in the Face of Disaster - John Scardena

John Scardena

Reference:

Karlene Kerfoot (December, 2001) Leading Through the Blur: Leadership in Difficult Times

Theme:

Leaders become successful when they can understand what is going on despite chaos and grow in ability by using the five properties of leadership of disaster control

Summary:

-Recent Disasters like 9/11, floods in Houston, Oklahoma City Bombing, and tornados have created a new syndrome of nervousness called "anticipatory anxiety" which is a fear of the unknown.

- Leadership facing threats from terror and disaster has become very different than times past.

-Tests of leadership are not brought about by times of safety but by times of crisis

-In times of disasters leaders will raise from crisis because they choose to fight instead of flight.

-People will gravitate to those who are bold and seem to live without fear of the unknown

-This is a great time of learning and growing for leaders, just as a muscle grown from excursion so does a leader.

-This is a time to build the community

-The people who will suffer most in a disaster are those who do not have a support system.

-This is a time to rethink leadership qualities and training; i.e. new methods of leadership

This is a time for practicing compassion- leaders must lead by how they want the world to be governed.

-The world is attracted to leaders whom follow the golden rule.

-This is a time to focus on the spirit of peace.

-Leaders must look threw the blur of disasters and blow away the fog of confusion and become strong.

-People need strong leaders who are intelligent, courageous, and have a good heart.

Application to Lesson Topic:

            The leason focuses all about leadership, the view of leadership and what the World needs. I think this meshes with media because the leaders that we speak of and the ones we look up to are passionate and dramatic. Media thrives on these ideas thus making a positive link between the leaders we are looking for and the exposure that they need.

Application to Emergency Services:

            When I think of leaders in a disaster or crisis situation, I do think of the men and women that are in emergency services. Whether that be the police doing crowd control, the Red Cross comforting victims, members of Reaching Efforts taking control of clearing debris and rebuilding homes so that the communities can return, all have a place and all need to have courage so that victims and others suffering from anticipatory anxiety can feel safe and calm. Ultimately it will be the first responders becoming leaders who will help the initial calm and it will need to be the second responders and public servants who reinforce that calm by taking control, being peace makers, and offering peace. 

3 - Leadership Excellence - Randy Rask

Leadership Excellence

Randy Rask

Reference:

Wheatley, Margaret J. Leadership Excellence. Oct2006, Vol. 23 Issue 10, p8-9. 2p.

Theme:  How leadership works in the world.  A leader's role is to create stability and control.  The article relates leadership to disasters

Summary: 

-           Margaret J. Wheatley created a leadership "new science" of leadership that people began to question.

-          She states that the people questioning her had the wrong perception of how the real world works.  People tend to relate people and organizations to machines because we all do what we are told therefore organizations can be ran like clockwork

-          These people believe that motivation comes from fear and rewards.  Compassion and generosity are not applicable.

-          Margaret states that this is not how the real world works.  The real world demands that we learn to cope with chaos, learn what motivates people, and adopt strategies that lead to order and not more chaos. 

-          All people have a sense of how to self-organize.  This evokes creativity and leads to results and creates a strong and adaptive system. This also creates stability and control which is what a leader's job is

-          She then relates this new science of leadership to disasters. 

-          The first thing people do in a disaster is want to help.  People pool their resources and create solutions to problem right there on the spot.  They work for days with no rest. This is the self-organizing that she speaks of.

-          These efforts, however, are often halted by officials who insist that this is not the proper way to do things and that they need to follow protocol.  But, these officials are also imprisoned by rules that they need to follow and cannot act on their own.  This causes an uncertainty of who is in charge. 

-          During the aftermath of Katrina in New Orleans, the people and the officials had this exact problem and it was very difficult for anything to get done.

-          But, in the Gulf Coast, people began to self-organize.  Although people acted freely, there was a mutual intent on what was going to happen in order for the chaos to end.

-          She states how "senior leader" have a difficult time acting this spontaneously.  Power and policy steps in the way of this more often than not.  Courage is needed in order for help to be given.

-          So, for formal leadership to work, the leaders need to have confidence that the people that they send out to do certain jobs know how to handle it and can invent their own solutions.  Leaders need to expect and value these efforts. 

-          Leaders can rely on human compassion, caring, and creativity, and self-organizing skills to hand self-organizing skills to isasters  the people that they send out to do cert the  proper way to do things and that they neeelp have a big impact after disasters.

Application to Lesson Topic:

Certain skills such as knowledge and experience are very important in forming a good leader.  Leaders, however, need to realize that there are other people and organizations that know what they are doing.  Therefore, a leader can let them handle certain situations so that they do not have all of the creativity and planning workload on themselves.

Application to Emergency Services:

This relates to emergency services because a good leader in emergency service would be benefited by letting other people and organizations be creative when responding to things such as disasters.  Although it is important for the leader to know what is going on, it can be much too overwhelming for them to handle everything themselves and this could ultimately hinder response efforts.   

3 - Trauma, children, and the media: What is ethical coverage? - Chris Schippers

Chris Schippers

Reference

Paccione-Dyszlewski, M. (2013). Trauma, children, and the media: What is ethical coverage?. Brown University Child & Adolescent Behavior Letter, 29(3), 8.

Theme

Covers the risks and repercussions involved with the use of child sources as a journalist and the vulnerabilities and trauma that young sources experience.

Summary

·         Photos of young children shielding their eyes from the carnage bring forth the debate of where to draw the line in journalism and ethics when children are involved.

·         There is a definite need for the disaster or tragic event to be reported.

·         When tragic events involve children, members of the media community have a duty to report the truth with heightened sensitivity and awareness of the vulnerability of their minor subjects.

·         Definition of trauma simply explained as extreme stress that overwhelms a person's ability to cope.

·         Just because the children were present when the event occurred doesn't necessarily mean the story and details will be accurate.  Children are much more emotional and their imaginations much more rampant.

·         Children respond to trauma differently than adults.

·         Trauma affects children more long term with lasting impacts on mental status, relationships, self-esteem, brain development, physical health etc.  Discussing the trauma experienced is a much more sensitive.

·         Sometimes the parent/guardian's permission to allow photos and interviews can be compromised depending on whether or not the adult themselves were traumatized.

·         Protecting the child victims from further trauma should far outweigh the want to get the best interview, most captivating photo, or telling the story.

Application to the Lessen Topic

The article I reviewed discusses the fine line walked by journalism when dealing with children and traumatic events.  There isn't a well-defined policy in place saying they can or can't share a particular photo, so it ultimately comes down to the moral judgment of the journalist.  Questions arise as to what is ethical and what coverage should be shared or kept quiet.   Journalists that cover disasters or traumatic events with children involved, have the critical task of telling a story without causing more trauma as a result.

Application to Emergency Services

Journalists can learn a thing or two from emergency responders when it comes to boundaries of information that should or shouldn't be shared as they deal with it on a daily basis in their radio communications, conversations with coworkers, public, and family.  Both professions have a job to accomplish and they both need to consider what is best for those victims of trauma involved in the incident. 

3- Compassionate, Courageous, and Committed - Mike Wayman

Reference:

Birchfield, R., & Brosnahan, J. (2011). Leaders for our times: Compassionate, courageous and committed. New Zealand Management, 58 (6), 22-24.

Theme:

The country needs courageous leaders to deal with natural disasters like the Canterbury earthquake. Leaders who are compassionate must become the new heroes of the society. 

Summary:

• In any type of disaster, natural or domestic a good leader is important
• Today's leaders need to make the connections between political, economic, commercial, environmental, social, cultural, community, ethical and moral actions and outcomes.
• Courageous leaders encourage the community to look for common good solutions among the diversity of options that confront them.
• Compassionate leaders must become society's new heroes.
• In a disaster leadership is vital, leaders must me cool, calm and collected
• Good leadership reassures the community and builds faith during a crisis

Application to the lesson topic:

Good leadership encourages a good working environment.

Application to emergency services:

Good leadership within emergency services is vital in helping those affected by a crisis. Good leadership is also vital to EMS workers in a high stress situation