The Media’s Representation of Airplane Disasters: An Analysis of Themes, Language and Moving Images Julia Maria Boelle A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Journalism, Media and Culture Cardiff University April 2020 - II - This thesis is dedicated to those affected by the fateful flights of Malaysia Airlines 370, Germanwings 9525, Air France 447, Malaysia Airlines 17, Indonesia AirAsia 8501, Metrojet 9268, EgyptAir 804, Saratov Airlines 703, Lion Air 610 and Ethiopian Airlines 302. - III - - IV - ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Professor Karin Wahl-Jorgensen and Professor Jenny Kitzinger for their guidance, expertise and encouragement in the production of this work. Without your help, this thesis would not have been possible. Special thanks are also due to Matthew Pudner for his help as a second coder in the intercoder-reliability test and Ben Jones for proof-reading. I am incredibly grateful for the time you have invested. Finally, I would like to thank my family and friends, and especially my parents, for their love and continuing support. I could not have gone on this journey without you. - V - - VI - ABSTRACT This thesis examines the representation of airplane disasters in broadcast news. Although airplane incidents tend to receive a disproportionate amount of media coverage, research is lacking in journalism studies and disaster communication on how these disasters are reported in traditional mainstream media and broadcast news. These news sources are dominant in the UK and, given the extensive coverage attributed to airplane disasters, have the power to shape our understanding of the incidents. By drawing on relevant concepts from the academic literature, this thesis establishes that the representation of airplane disasters can be understood through several key features: media interest, the topics of the broadcasts, the causes and responses to the incidents, emotionality and ‘suffering’, safety and risk, uncertainty, ignorance and speculation as well as different types of visuals. The findings contribute to knowledge in journalism studies and disaster communication more generally as they refine our understanding of the concepts of speculation, emotionality and risk, and the visuals of television news. The research also suggests that there may be a shift in television news from traditional journalism to a more narrative form of reporting, which produces compelling coverage in line with ideals to ‘objectivity’ and truth- telling. - VII - - VIII - CONTENTS Acknowledgments .................................................................................................. V Abstract …. ........................................................................................................... VII List of tables ....................................................................................................... XII List of figures ..................................................................................................... XIV List of text boxes ............................................................................................... XVII Chapter 1: Introduction .......................................................................................... 1 Chapter 2: Literature review .................................................................................. 7 2.1. Introduction ................................................................................................. 7 2.2. What is a ‘disaster’? ...................................................................................... 7 2.3. The role of the media during disasters ....................................................... 11 2.4. New media and disasters ........................................................................... 16 2.5. Reporting disasters ..................................................................................... 17 2.6. Journalism, disasters and emotions .......................................................... 21 2.7. The mediation of ‘suffering’ ....................................................................... 25 2.8. News reports and the representation of ‘suffering’ ................................... 28 2.9. The mediation of risk ................................................................................. 33 2.10. Airplane disasters and the media .............................................................. 39 2.11. Media speculation and uncertainty ........................................................... 46 2.12. Aviation terrorism ...................................................................................... 48 2.13. Conclusion .................................................................................................. 52 Chapter 3: Methodology ....................................................................................... 55 3.1. Introduction ............................................................................................... 55 3.2. Mixed methods ........................................................................................... 55 3.3. Research questions .................................................................................... 56 3.4. Content analysis ......................................................................................... 58 - IX - 3.5. Thematic analysis ....................................................................................... 59 3.6. Discourse analysis ...................................................................................... 61 3.7. Visual analysis ............................................................................................ 63 3.8. Research design ......................................................................................... 65 3.9. Conclusion .................................................................................................. 72 Chapter 4: General patterns in airplane disaster news ....................................... 73 4.1. Introduction ............................................................................................... 73 4.2. Media interest ............................................................................................ 73 4.3. Topics of the broadcasts ............................................................................. 77 4.4. Causes of the disasters ............................................................................... 82 4.5. Responses to the disasters ......................................................................... 95 4.6. Conclusion ................................................................................................. 113 Chapter 5: The mediation of emotionality and ‘suffering’ ................................. 117 5.1. Introduction .............................................................................................. 117 5.2. Disasters and emotionality ....................................................................... 117 5.3. Emotional content ..................................................................................... 118 5.4. Stylistic features ....................................................................................... 127 5.5. Conclusion .................................................................................................137 Chapter 6: The representation of safety, risk, uncertainty, ignorance and speculation ....................................................................................... 139 6.1. Introduction ............................................................................................. 139 6.2. Safety and risk .......................................................................................... 140 6.3. Uncertainty and ignorance ...................................................................... 160 6.4. Speculation ............................................................................................... 170 6.5. Conclusion ................................................................................................. 181 Chapter 7: The visual representation of airplane disaster news ....................... 185 7.1. Introduction ............................................................................................. 185 7.2. Visuals and the media .............................................................................. 185 - X - 7.3. Interviews and press conferences ............................................................ 187 7.4. Disaster operation and (potential) crash location ................................... 195 7.5. Supporting visuals and informational graphics ...................................... 202 7.6. Grief, commemoration and death ........................................................... 208 7.7. Culpability ................................................................................................ 223 7.8. Conclusion ................................................................................................ 225 Chapter 8: Discussion and conclusion ............................................................... 227 References ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 237 Appendix A: The broader application of research findings ............................... 265 Appendix B: Coding sheet .................................................................................. 303 Appendix C: References of the broadcasts ........................................................ 307 Appendix D: SPSS tables ...................................................................................