The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School College of Communications A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF THE PORTRAYALS OF HAITI AND HAITIANS FOLLOWING THE 2010 EARTHQUAKES ON AMERICAN 24- HOUR CABLE NEWS NETWORKS A Thesis in Media Studies by Courtney C. Herring © 2011 Courtney C. Herring Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts August 2011 The thesis of Courtney C. Herring was reviewed and approved* by the following: Anthony Olorunnisola Thesis Advisor Associate Professor of Communications Head of the Department of Film-Video and Media Studies Colleen Connolly-Ahern Associate Professor of Communications Roxanne Parrott Distinguished Professor of Communication Arts & Sciences and Health Policy & Administration Marie Hardin Associate Professor of Communications Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Research *Signatures on file in the Graduate School. ii Abstract Haiti has long been considered by the world as a “Third World” country and as the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, primarily because of its poverty and political instability. Because of its close proximity to the United States, the two countries have shared a long and troubling history since Haiti’s independence in 1804. After a series of devastating earthquakes shook the country in January 2010, Haiti was launched into the American media once again. The earthquakes and the aftershocks that followed were the worst to impact the nation in nearly 200 years, causing the United States to send millions of dollars in aid, search and rescue personnel, and military officials to organize the relief effort. Twenty-four hour cable news networks were among many other news providers to monitor nearly all aspects of the disaster. Prior studies have explored how the American media cover disasters. However, few have sought to understand how 24-hour American cable news providers handle disaster coverage, and even fewer have investigated how American media depict Haiti and Haitians. Therefore, the purpose of this study was two-fold. First, to investigate how American 24-hour cable news networks, specifically Cable News Network (CNN), Microsoft and National Broadcasting Company (MSNBC), and Fox News Channel (FNC) discursively portrayed Haiti and its people in the aftermath of this overwhelming disaster. Secondly, to gain an understanding of what aspects of this disaster these cable news providers considered most newsworthy. Discourse is a powerful rhetorical tool that is often used to perpetuate existing ideologies, both implicitly and explicitly. In this case, it is imperative to consider how discourse perpetuates and justifies power and dominance. Therefore, it is important to understand the role of American 24-hour cable news networks in framing both Haiti and Haitians discursively during a vulnerable time. To accomplish this, the study uses Teun A. Van Dijk’s Critical Discourse Analysis approach to analyze a total of 224 news transcripts from the three most viewed cable news networks: CNN (n=184), MSNBC, (n=13) and FNC (n=17) from January 12, 2010 to December 31, 2010. Five main themes iii emerged from the disaster coverage: problematic pre-conditions, incompetence of the Haitian government, U.S. involvement in the relief efforts, victim experience and recovery. In their uneven coverage, the three networks “recontextualized” the disaster for American viewers by using semantic strategies that Teun A. Van Dijk (1991) would describe as: “presupposition,” “hyperbole,” “vagueness,” “over-completeness,” “blaming the victim,” “comparison” and “admission.” Overall, the coverage portrayed Haiti as a charity case in need of not only funding, but of order and proper governance – which could be accomplished by U.S. intervention. Additionally, the coverage offered by these networks perpetuated some long-standing notions of Haiti and its people and focused on poverty, political instability, and weak infrastructure. Limitations were also identified. Hopefully, this study’s findings contribute to literature on American media portrayals of Haiti and its people, while offering insight to how discourse on 24-hour cable news networks can potentially impact the way in which viewers perceive Haiti and countries like it. iv Table of Contents Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ vi Chapter 1: Introduction ..................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 2: Review of Literature ....................................................................................... 3 What is a Crisis/Disaster? ............................................................................................... 3 Television News’ Coverage of Crises and Disasters ...................................................... 6 Revolution and Internal Struggle: Haiti’s Tumultuous Political History ..................... 11 Haiti’s Economy ........................................................................................................... 15 Haiti’s Troubled Foreign Relations .............................................................................. 20 Depictions of Haiti in the American Media .................................................................. 22 Chapter 3: Theoretical Background ............................................................................... 25 Chapter 4: Method of Analysis ........................................................................................ 32 Chapter 5: Analysis .......................................................................................................... 41 CNN, FNC, and MSNBC’s Coverage and Newsworthiness ................................ 41 Problematic Pre-conditions ...................................................................................... 43 Poverty .................................................................................................................. 44 Weak Infrastructure .............................................................................................. 49 Degraded Physical Landscape and Overpopulation ............................................. 51 Incompetence of the Haitian Government ................................................................ 54 Government Absence ............................................................................................ 55 Suspicions of Corruption ...................................................................................... 57 Fear of Civil Unrest .............................................................................................. 61 US Involvement ......................................................................................................... 66 Military Intervention ............................................................................................. 66 Charitable Donations ............................................................................................ 69 Victim Experience ..................................................................................................... 70 Casualties, Injuries, and Rescues .......................................................................... 71 Haitian Voices ....................................................................................................... 74 Resilient People .................................................................................................... 76 Recovery .................................................................................................................... 78 A Better Haiti? ...................................................................................................... 79 6 Months Later…and Beyond ............................................................................... 80 Limitations ........................................................................................................................ 99 Future Research .............................................................................................................. 101 References ....................................................................................................................... 103 v Acknowledgements It is my humble delight to thank those who have supported me along this journey. First, I am grateful to the source of my strength and the help of my life, my Heavenly Father, for the bountiful blessings and unmerited favor He has bestowed upon me. Without Him, I am nothing. Many thanks to my advisor and committee chair, Dr. Anthony Olorunnisola, for his academic guidance and support. I appreciate the ways you challenged me to dig deeper, think critically, and write clearly. I would like to thank Dr. Colleen Connolly- Ahern for your graciousness and willingness to help me to conceptualize and execute an entire research project under such a short deadline during my time here as a scholar in the SROP program. I sincerely appreciate you for helping to make my experience in the program a successful and enriching one – all before I even became a Penn Stater. To Dr. Roxanne Parrott, thank you for your feedback and contributions to this project. I would also like to thank Dr. John S. Nichols and others, for extending me the opportunity to participate in the 2008 SROP program and later, the College of Communication as a student. I am forever indebted to my friends, mentors and colleagues from both near and far, for their unwavering support