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The New York Times and the Sleeping Giant

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The New York Times and the Sleeping Giant THE NEW YORK TIMES AND THE SLEEPING GIANT: A QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE CONTENT ANALYSIS OF HOW MYTH WAS USED TO EXPLAIN THE ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR A thesis presented to the faculty of the Scripps College of Communication of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Science John Alan Wing November 2007 ©2007 John Alan Wing All Rights Reserved ii This thesis titled THE NEW YORK TIMES AND THE SLEEPING GIANT: A QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE CONTENT ANALYSIS OF HOW MYTH WAS USED TO EXPLAIN THE ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR by JOHN ALAN WING has been approved for the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism and the Scripps College of Communication by Joseph Bernt Professor of Journalism Gregory J. Shepherd Dean, College of Communication iii Abstract WING, JOHN A., M.S., November 2007, Journalism THE NEW YORK TIMES AND THE SLEEPING GIANT: A QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE CONTENT ANALYSIS OF HOW MYTH WAS USED TO EXPLAIN PEARL HARBOR (166 pp.) Director of Thesis: Joseph Bernt Reporters, most likely influenced by the culture in which they live, shape their reports around stories that are as old as the written word. These ancient characters and plots are often relied upon to provide familiar structures and context to unprecedented events. With this in mind, a quantitative and qualitative content analysis was used to examine coverage of Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor appearing in the New York Times, from December 7, 1941, to July 7, 1942. A sample of 432 articles was selected from the population, representing 20.78 percent of the 2,078 articles recovered. The quantitative study was based on comparing the narrative forms found in news articles to those found in myth. This morphology was used to measure the resemblance between the narrative structures of myth and news. Jack Lule’s Seven Master Myths served as a basis for the myths examined and their narrative structuring, while Vladimir Propp’s Morphology of the Folktale inspired the comparison of forms. The qualitative analysis focused on a close reading of select articles. The attack was initially discussed in terms of the Flood myth, but was later put into terms of the myth of the Hero. The Hero, the Other World, and the Scapegoat myths iv were the most numerous, while the Flood and Hero myth were the most prominent. Those who dissented against the government and commanders of U.S. forces at Pearl Harbor were portrayed as Scapegoats while the Japanese were discussed as Tricksters. Foreign lands were often discussed in terms of the Other World myth. The results of this study are only applicable to the population of articles; however, one observation that emerged contradicts an assumption of previous qualitative researchers. Myth was most often associated with hard-news stories rather than soft-news stories, which contradicts the notion that soft news is a more fertile breeding ground for myth. This, however, could be due to the large number of hard news articles found in war coverage. War censors and Times’ correspondents played powerful roles as mythmakers. Functions of myth were found in 23.8 percent of the 432 articles examined. Approved: _____________________________________________________________ Joseph Bernt Professor of Journalism v Dedication To Mom vi Acknowledgments I would like to thank Jack Lule for his encouragement and suggestions. Thanks goes to Steve Siff for his help coding for the simple agreement and peer editing early drafts. I would like to thank my father, Dr. John F. Wing, for his kind criticism and support. Also, thanks go to the staffs of the Clark County Public Library, the Ohio University library, and the Wittenberg library. Finally, I would like to thank the members of my committee, Dr. Joe Bernt, Dr. Dan Riffe, and Dr. Pat Washburn, for the support, guidance, and resources they have provided me in connection with this project. vii Table of Contents Page ABSTRACT................................................................................................................................................ IV DEDICATION............................................................................................................................................ VI ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.........................................................................................................................VII LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................................................................X PREFACE................................................................................................................................................... XI CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................1 AN ANCIENT DEFINITION IN A NEW CONTEXT ............................................................................................3 DECEMBER 7, 1941......................................................................................................................................5 Why Look at Pearl Harbor? ..................................................................................................................5 Events Leading Up To Pearl Harbor.....................................................................................................7 Operation Z............................................................................................................................................8 “A Date Which Will Live in Infamy”.....................................................................................................9 Did President Roosevelt Know? ..........................................................................................................12 CHAPTER 2: THE NARRATIVE IN NEWS ..........................................................................................17 A BRIEF HISTORY OF NEWS AND STORYTELLING......................................................................................17 PUBLIC OPINION AND THE INFORMATION MODEL .....................................................................................19 A NEW WAY OF THINKING ABOUT NEWS..................................................................................................23 James Carey: A Ritual View of Communication..................................................................................23 Richard Campbell: Science and Storytelling.......................................................................................25 Elizabeth Bird and Robert Dardenne: Narrative and Chronicles .......................................................27 CHAPTER 3: ORIGINS OF MYTH AND ITS EARLY EXPLORERS................................................32 ARCHETYPES AND THE COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS .................................................................................32 RITUALS AND JUNG’S LIFE-CYCLE............................................................................................................35 COMPARATIVE MYTHOLOGY ....................................................................................................................37 FORMING AN OBJECTIVE SYSTEM OF ANALYSIS .......................................................................................39 THE SEVEN MASTER MYTHS.....................................................................................................................41 The Flood.............................................................................................................................................41 The Hero..............................................................................................................................................42 The Mother...........................................................................................................................................44 The Other World..................................................................................................................................45 The Scapegoat......................................................................................................................................46 The Trickster........................................................................................................................................46 The Victim............................................................................................................................................47 CHAPTER 4: STUDIES OF MYTH IN JOURNALISM ........................................................................49 TWO SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT .....................................................................................................................49 Political and Ideological Approach.....................................................................................................49 Social and Cultural Approach .............................................................................................................51 FURTHER STUDY OF THE MASTER MYTHS ................................................................................................54 Heroes and Heroines ...........................................................................................................................54 Trickster...............................................................................................................................................57 Mother .................................................................................................................................................57
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