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Journalism and Terrorism: How the War on Terrorism Has Changed American Journalism

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Journalism and Terrorism: How the War on Terrorism Has Changed American Journalism Journalism and Terrorism: How the War on Terrorism Has Changed American Journalism Free-press research by the Missouri School of Journalism that raises important questions and suggests surprising answers PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE First Amendment Center October 7-8, 2002 F IRST A MENDMENT C ENTER The First Amendment Center works to preserve and protect First Amendment freedoms through information and education. The center serves as a forum for the study and exploration of free-expression issues, including freedom of speech, of the press and of religion, the right to assemble and to petition the government. The First Amendment Center, with offices at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., and Arlington, Va., is an independent affiliate of the Freedom Forum and the Newseum, the interactive museum of news. The Freedom Forum is a nonpartisan foundation dedicated to free press, free speech and free spirit for all people. Journalism and Terrorism: How the War on Terrorism Has Changed American Journalism ©2002 First Amendment Center 1207 18th Avenue South Nashville, TN 37212 615/727-1600 Publication No. 02-F05 Table of Contents Hometown News: How American Journalists Are Covering the Post-9/11 World 7 George Kennedy and Esther Thorson The Signs Were There: The Genesis of Post-Sept. 11 Freedom of Information Policy 39 Charles N. Davis Challenges to the Unpatriotic: International Media and Perspectives 53 Byron T. Scott With Liberty and Justice for All: Attorneys General During the Stress of War 65 Betty Houchin Winfield The Military, the Press and the Public: Is There New Reason for Détente in the Post-9/11 World? 83 Brian S. Brooks Changes in Reporters’ Relationships with Sources 97 Wayne Wanta About the Authors 107 7 Hometown News: How American Journalists Are Covering the Post-9/11 World by George Kennedy and Esther Thorson “I think it’s a great moment in American journalism. Now, whether we can make this moment last, and how long we can make it last, these are the open questions. … I’m mildly optimistic, but the italics must be on mildly.” D AN R ATHER, three weeks after September 11, 2001, as quoted in Leonard Downie and Robert Kaiser, The News About the News, p. 143 “In the aftermath of 9/11, there was an emphasis on international reporting, but by December questions arose: How long is this going to last? … A feeling is creeping back in that if you lead [with] foreign [news], you die.” D AN R ATHER, TV Guide, August 31, 2002 OVERVIEW his paper reports the results of a phone sur- her life. She has been managing editor of the Tvey of managing editors and news directors Capital Journal for eight years. She knows that from newspapers and television stations across the events of 9/11 and the war on terrorism the United States. The sample included approx- have changed her neighbors and the news imately equal numbers of large, medium and they get. small news organizations. The study also “You saw a shift in society, and that changes included follow-up interviews with a number of the way you operate the paper and look at the original respondents. news,” she said. “I just think they’re more attuned to the world than they were a year ago. SUMMARY I know I am.” Miller could have been speaking for most of Anita Miller knows her town and her newspa- her colleagues who direct the newsrooms of per. She has lived in Topeka, Kansas, nearly all America’s daily newspapers and television sta- Journalism and Terrorism: How the War on Terrorism Has Changed American Journalism 8 tions. In a new national survey, managing editors newspapers, the dominant provider of international and news directors said they are providing more and news is the Associated Press. Among television sta- better international news coverage. Ten months tions, the primary source is the network with which after the attack, two-thirds of newspaper editors and the station is affiliated. About one-third of both 70% of TV news directors said their quantity of newspapers and TV stations sent staffers to New coverage is up. More than 80% of editors and 90% York or Washington after 9/11. About one-third of of news directors said the quality has improved. stations and one-quarter of newspapers have dis- That coverage is also more patriotic in tone and patched staffers to other war zones. content. More than 80% of the respondents said As those assignments suggest, the focus of the they are covering more issues related to patriotism, increased international coverage, especially on tele- while three-quarters of editors and 85% of news vision, seems to be on one topic — the war on ter- directors said they are featuring the flag or other rorism. News directors rate international news patriotic symbols more than before. Nearly 60% of much lower in interest to viewers than editors think news directors said staffers have worn flag pins or it is to readers. Therefore, only 44% of news direc- other such emblems on air. tors said international news is important for their Deborah Johnson, news director of WFSB tele- newscasts, while 70% of editors said it is important vision in Hartford, Conn., was not having any of in their reports. By contrast, more than 90% from that. “We don’t wear anybody’s buttons, but we’re as both media rated coverage of the war on terrorism patriotic as the next people.” The content of cover- as important. age has changed, she said, because the news itself Johnson, of WFSB, explained, “We have troops has changed. “People are doing more patriotic activ- on the ground. We’re more visibly part of the inter- ities, so we cover it.” national scene than before. Nobody’s covering Coverage has not been easy. Many said there what’s happening in Siberia, because nothing’s hap- were increased problems gaining access to informa- pening in Siberia.” tion from the national government. And most — She added, “To the average viewer, I don’t think 90% of editors and 70% of news directors — said international news is very important. It doesn’t they thought the Bush administration has used the directly connect with people’s lives. Here, for exam- availability of information to try to manipulate the ple, we’re so fragmented that unless you live or work press. in Hartford, you don’t even care much about that.” Like Miller, whose staff has shrunk in the last Only about one-quarter of news directors and year because of economic pressures, most are pro- one-third of editors said they thought international viding coverage of the war on terrorism without news would increase audiences. However, more extra journalists or increased budgets. “We kind of than half the news directors and nearly half the edi- juggle what we cover,” she said. One-fifth of editors tors reported that their audiences were larger almost said profit pressure from owners has increased, a year after the attacks. while three-quarters said it has stayed about the The Capital Journal (circulation 58,489) has same. Among news directors, two-thirds reported launched a new feature, “Know your neighbors,” increased profit pressures. that brings together small groups to discuss a variety Also like Miller, most newsroom managers are of common issues and interests. Some participants getting most of their additional international cover- write articles for the paper. “It’s a way to touch the age from the wire services or the networks. Among community a little more,” Miller explained. “After Kennedy and Thorson Hometown News: How American Journalists Are Covering the Post-9/11 World 9 9/11, people kind of closed off. This is a good way ment’s planning for retaliation. Journalists to open doors and get people to talk and appreciate could educate Americans about Islamic diversity.” The survey did not ask for such examples of extremists, the history of Afghanistan, the enterprise, but more than one-third of editors and difficulty of defending the United States 60% of news directors did report greater coverage of against resourceful and suicidal terrorists, civic participation. About one-third of both groups said they have changed newsroom assignments to and much more. Journalism defined the reflect changed priorities. events of September 11 and their aftermath. One other thing that may have changed is the In those circumstances the importance of ideology of the journalists. Previous studies have found large majorities of journalists placing them- journalism was obvious and much discussed. selves left of center on the political spectrum. Not (p. 4) so with these newsroom managers. Respondents from both media divided themselves evenly among and left, right and center, with slightly more in the cen- ter than on either side. in the traumatic days that followed the ter- STUDY BACKGROUND rorist attacks in September 2001, when the best newspapers published extraordinary edi- In the weeks following 9/11 there was consensus tions filled with detailed reporting, emotion among citizens, news professionals, and media crit- ics that the coverage of the attack and the war on and explanation. (p. 9) had been a high water mark for journalism, print and electronic. Downie and Kaiser1 described televi- Critics at the Project for Excellence in 2 sion and print coverage: Journalism were similarly laudatory, noting that “solid sourcing and factualness dominated the cov- erage of the bombings and their aftermath.” So on September 11, 2001, and for some Some recent academic analyses3 criticized the time after, Americans remained glued to their immediate television coverage for its reporting of televisions, turned in record numbers to too many rumors (83) during the first five hours of coverage.
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