9th INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC RELATIONS RESEARCH CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS Changing Roles and Functions in Public Relations Best Western South Miami South Miami, Florida March 9 – March 12, 2006 Edited by Marcia Watson DiStaso University of Miami IPRRC - 337 Framing a Disaster FEMA Press Releases and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita Vanessa Murphree The University of South Alabama [email protected] FEMA prepares the nation for all hazards and manages federal response and recovery efforts following any national incident. FEMA also initiates mitigation activities, trains first responders, works with state and local emergency managers, and manages the National Flood Insurance Program and the U.S. Fire Administration. FEMA became part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on March 1, 2003 FEMA boilerplate On August 23, 2005, the National Hurricane Center reported a “disturbed” weather pattern off the southeastern coast of the Bahamas that would soon become the most notorious hurricanes of our time—Katrina. Within three days, the storm was a Category 3 hurricane blowing through southeast Florida. Six days later, much of the Mississippi Gulf Coast and parts of the Louisiana coast were destroyed. Seven days later, the break in the New Orleans levees overwhelmed the city. And within a month’s time, on September 24, Hurricane Rita, a hit the Louisiana and Texas coastlines as a Category 3 storm causing extensive wind and water damage. In the days preceding and weeks following these storms, the Federal Emergency Management Agency distributed 584 press releases (between August 23 and October 31). This qualitative study examines these releases and compares the September and August messages presented with the timeline of events surrounding the hurricanes. The analysis demonstrates how FEMA framed messages and distributed crucial information during one of the county’s largest national disasters. FEMA History FEMA was created in 1979 under Jimmy Carter’s administration. Known as a “political parking lot,” the agency underwent a number of scandals regarding the appointment of inexperienced people to high-level emergency planning positions.1 In 1992 with George H. Bush as president, a Category 5 hurricane, Andrew, hit the Florida Keys. This was United States’ harshest storm in twenty-three years. Thousands were stranded without electricity, food, or water. It took FEMA five days to respond. The Clinton administration appointed James Lee Witt, the former Arkansas state emergency manager, director in 1993. He served until 2001 and was the first FEMA director with direct disaster management experience. Witt instigated a successful mitigation program and directed the agency through a number of major hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes without scandal. In 2001 George W. Bush appointed his campaign manager, Joe Allbaugh, to direct FEMA and Michael Brown as FEMA general counsel. Despite budget cuts and inexperienced personnel, FEMA worked well in the aftermath of September 11, 2001. At that time, President Bush created the Department of Homeland Security, and FEMA became a sub-department rather than an independent agency. At this point Allbaugh left the agency, and Brown took over. Under Brown’s leadership, FEMA ironically rehearsed for a Category 5 hurricane a year before Katrina struck. But during the exercise, FEMA funding was cut. So final planning decisions were not made and much was “left to be determined.” In a July 2004 FEMA press release, FEMA Regional Director Ron Castleman said the exercise illustrated “great progress.” “Disaster response teams developed action plans in critical areas such as search and rescue, medical care, sheltering, temporary housing, school restoration and debris management.”2 IPRRC - 338 But despite planning efforts, the Hurricane Katrina response, especially in New Orleans, was by all accounts abysmal. While residents waited without food, water, or adequate shelter, it took six days to get troops the area. Two weeks later, in a nationally televised speech, President Bush declared that “the nation will learn the lesson of Hurricane Katrina.”3 Then less than four weeks after Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, Hurricane Rita hit the Florida, Texas, and Louisiana coasts. FEMA officials had promised a more organized response, but evacuation efforts created mayhem. A September 23 press release noted that FEMA had “pre- positioned enough commodities for four days.”4 But even with this planning, evacuation efforts were muddled, dangerous, and sometimes deadly. FEMA criticism continued. Investigations are still underway regarding the lack of proper emergency management in the days and weeks surroundings Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Literature Review Public relations scholars have studied the content and effect of press releases and recognize that organizations often frame themselves successfully for the news media. In today’s digital world, press releases have a secondary function of providing information directly to the general pubic via the organization’s web site. Moreover, these releases also serve as a historical record and are often archived on the web. Such an archive made this study possible. These new placements suggest the need for more research regarding the function, placement, and effectiveness of press releases beyond the traditional media relations scope. Much of the literature concerning framing involves the news media, but more and more scholars are considering the organizational tool from a public relations standpoint. For example, in her analysis of the National Organization for Women, Barnett concluded that the organizations use press releases to organize ideas but also to “correct journalistic frames.”5 Entmann discusses the notion of framing and defines it as making the issue “noticeable, meaningful or memorable to audiences.”6 Journalists and public relations professionals frequently use framing to achieve such goals. Moreover, other research suggests that framing is an organizational tool for journalist that can also help readers and viewers understand the issue and build upon familiar concepts.7 Along these same lines, Knight observed that “frames represent powerful mechanisms through which public relations practitioners can mediate debates related to public policy.”8 Andsager and Smiley agreed that framing is common in public relations and noted that government officials frequently “employ public information offices to communicate their frames.”9 In another political example Flowers, Haynes, and Crespin examine the 1996 Republican presidential nominee press releases and the subsequent news stories and found that the media responded to information-oriented messages while being less receptive to issue-oriented messages. They noted, however, that state press organizations were more receptive to issues-oriented messages.10 Yet another politically oriented analysis suggested that candidates presented distinct images and positions and were “differentially successful in getting news media to reflect their positions.”11 Rohlinger studied the abortion debate by examining how two opposing organization used frames to attract media coverage and determined that media strategy is important but that is almost always influenced by organizational structure.12 An examination of NAACP media message surrounding the 2000 presidential elections found that the media generally ignored the organization’s framing efforts. This article, however, also brings attention to the need to study the role of organizational messages that do not appear in the media but that are still effective and persuasive.13 IPRRC - 339 Methodology This qualitative analysis examines FEMA’s message frames and the relevance of FEMA messages as they compare to the events surrounding the hurricanes. Such a study is important because of the magnitude of hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the recent reorganization of FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security. These news releases offer insight into how FEMA responded to these catastrophic events and suggest that FEMA’s press releases provided both relevant and irrelevant information while often ignoring major news events of the day. On the other hand, it is clear that FEMA delivered information to the media though other outlets. For example, a number of press conference featuring FEMA representative were covered in the news but were not mentioned in the press releases. This study, however, is limited to a review of press releases and does not examine other media relations strategy and tactics. In order to examine the releases, I built two three-column matrixes. The first consisted of the date, the major hurricane-related news stories of the day, and the FEMA press release headlines. First I examined the releases and identified themes and categories. I then compared the events of each day with the messages that FEMA distributed via its press releases. The second matrix identified FEMA frames. This analysis examines news releases posted on FEMA’s web site from August 23 (seven days prior to Katrina hitting the Gulf Coast) to October 31. The news timeline is detailed through September and much more general in October. Therefore, the September analysis is more descriptive, while the October analysis provides a broad overview of frames without the detailed news timeline comparison. Findings: Optimism, superhero, and instructor. I identified three frames—optimism, superhero, and instructor. These frames were consistent throughout and left little room for controversy or criticism within the releases. The Instructor