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A Look at Media Coverage of the Yazidi AttackTRANSCRIPT
Attack on the Yazidis:A Look at the Media Coverage on August 15, 2007
Julie Jacobson, UNC Chapel HillCOMM 574, DauberMay 1, 2008
Outline
● Introduction
● Problem Overview
● Approach
● Results & Discussion
● Conclusion
Image from Newsweek, August 2007
Introduction
● Attack on the Yazidis
● Multiple suicide bombers, hundreds killed
● 15 August, 2007
● Northern Iraqi villages
● Remote location delayed coverage
Problem Overview
?
Approach
● News Sources:
– ABC (Video & Transcript)http://shorl.com/pupotuvosufry
– CNN (Video & Transcript)http://shorl.com/kabrebryfrefribi
– New York Times (Article)http://shorl.com/symyrususare
– The Washington Post (Article)http://shorl.com/hodrumopristitre
– The Augusta Chronicle (Article)
– Newsweek Magazine (Image)
Approach (cont.)
● Broadcast
– Visuals
– Emphasis
– Narrative Frames
– Narrative Frames
– Language
Broadcast Visuals
● Terrorism is driven by the visuals
● ”On one hand, there is the photographs' news value–their content as it relates to current public policy or public affairs issues. This is set against the images' sensationalism–with their disturbing images of death or violence” (Perlmutter et al. 2004)
● Editors must be careful not to cross this line, yet still capture a taste of reality
Broadcast Visuals
● The better the visuals, the better the story!
● As discussed in lecture, news mediums are under pressure to create a profit (media as business, lecture from 22 January 2008)
– ”The major US networks all compete fiercely for an increased market share of the audience [...]” (Wilkinson 1997).
Broadcast Visuals: Children
● children = image of innocence and of the future.
● Real soldiers fight those who can fight back.
● Msg: There is no line the terrorist will not cross.
Broadcast Visual: Children
● CNN and ABC both showed images of women and children, some were clearly purchased through reuters (note... CNN gives credit to Reuters and ABC does not)
Broadcast Visuals
● 43 images in abc footage
● 25 images in CNN footage
– CNN spent more time on each image, while ABC went for more shock value by showing more close ups of wounded children.
– Much of the footage was borrowed from reuters for both CNN and ABC.
Broadcast Visuals: Reuters
Broadcast Visuals: Staged?
Broadcast: Emphasis
● Stand alone story
● ABC does not mention other attacks – it is the first story covered on ABCs nightly news
● CNN mentions another attack, but quickly erases the link:
– ”In April, a Yazidi woman who tried to marry a Sunni man was stoned to death. The sickening violence against her was caught on a mobile phone and broadcast around the world. But that incident is not thought to be linked to this attack.” - CNN
Broadcast: Narrative Frames
”The idea of 'news frames' refers to interpretive structures that journalists use to set particular
events within their broader context. News frames bundle key concepts, stock phrases, and iconic
images to reinfoce certain common ways of interpreting developments over others, thereby
unconsciously promoting one particular interpretation of events” (Norris et al. 2003)
Broadcast: Narrative Frames
● CNN– Point of story
– Bad news
– Causality
– Appropriate Response
– Good vs Evil
– ”ethnic cleansing”
– Death toll not mentioned
– Ministry of Interior's name not given
– Improper intro to quote
Broadcast: Narrative Frames
● ABC
– Point of story
– Bad news
– Facts left out
– Questionable quotes
– Implies Yazidi weakness
– Death toll mentioned
– lack of human agent
Newsweek Magazine Image
● Less graphic than much of the video footage
● Shows victim- generates sympathy
● Child in the background
● Vibrant colors
Picture found in Newsweek Archive of database...located on-line using a google image search for ”Yazidi attack”
Print: Narrative Frame
● New York Times
– Frame
– Thematic
– Goal
– Front page A01
● Washington Post
– Frame
– Thematic
– Goal: Agenda Setting
– Front page A01
Print: Narrative Frame
● The Augusta Chronicle
– summarical
– unemotional
– factual
– starkly different from the New York Times and Washington Post
Major Findings
● Good vs. Evil Theme
● Lack of Human Agent
● Unpredictable Media Coverage of Iraqi Violence
● Body Taboo
Good vs. Evil Theme
● Establish innocence
● Introducing the 'bad' guy
● Introducing the 'good' guy
Good vs. Evil Theme
● Establish Innocence:
Good vs. Evil Theme
● Establish innocence:
– ”It was an attack on people just going about their normal lives and doing it, they thought, in peace”/ABC News
– ”Victim” /ABC News & CNN
– ”The bodies and souls of these people have been attacked.” /ABC News
– ”[...] the recovery and the anguish goes on”/ABC News
Good vs. Evil Theme
● Establish innocence (cont.):
– ”The ministry of the interior says trucks packed with two tons of TNT drove into Ba'ai (ph) and Sinja (ph) at 8pm, when houses were full of families.” /CNN
– ”Hundreds of men, women and children have flooded into hospitals.” /CNN
– ”Khidr Farhan was on his way to buy vegetables when the first truck bomb exploded near the market in his tiny Yazidi enclave. [...] Then he begins to cry.” /Washington Post
Good vs. Evil Theme
● Establish innocence (cont.):
– ”They are trying to finish the Yazidis.”/Washington Post
– ”The deadly assault on Tuesday crushed the hope that there would be safety in numbers [...]”/New York Times
– Visuals of injured women and children in the broadcast and print
Good vs. Evil Theme
● Introducing the bad guy:
–
Good vs. Evil Theme
● Introducing the 'bad' guy:
– ”It looks like a nuclear bomb hit the villages”/New York Times
– ”Suicide bombers have repeatedly attacked [...]”/The Washington Post
– ”Three other U.S. soldiers were killed.”/The Washington Post
Good vs. Evil Theme
● Introducing the 'bad' guy:
– ”But this disaster was not only man made, but synically timed to ensure the maximum number of people would die” /CNN
– ”This is an act of ethnic cleansing, if you will, almost genocide [...]” /CNN
– ”There are morals and a code of behaviour for a person in war. Al Qaeda has no code of behaviour.” /CNN
– Visuals of destruction, ruins, and victims
Good vs. Evil Theme
● Introducing the good guy:
Good vs. Evil Theme
● Introducing the 'good' guy:
– ”In an interview last week, Brig. Gen. John M. ”Mick” Bednarek, who has led the military operation in Baqubah. said that the city has been largely stabilized and that many of the 10,000 troops there would be used to expand the U.S. presence elsewhere in Diyala.”/The Washington Post
– [...] violence and the american effort to stop it continued to shudder through the country.”/New York Times
Good vs. Evil Theme
● Introducing the 'good' guy:
– ”Many gunmen fled when the Ameican and Iraqi troops arrived in force.” /New York Times
– ”We will aggressively and persistently target Al Qaeda, an organization that brings nothing but hatred, destruction and disregard for the very foundation of the Iraqi peoples' principles and faith.” /New York Times
– ”The mayor of Sinjar said Ameican troops had been a tremendous help [...]” /ABC News
Lack of Human Agent
● Passive voice
● Objectification
Lack of Human Agent
● Passive voice
– ”At least 175 people were killed [...]”/The Washington Post
– ”Yazidi factory workers were dragged off a bus [...]”/The Washington Post
– ”Three other U.S. soldiers were killed.”/The Washington Post
– ”Scores of families were obliterated [...]”/New York Times
Lack of Human Agent
● Objectification
– ”[...] CH-47 went down [...]” /New York Times
– ”Four truck bombs killed at least 190 people [...]”/New York Times
– ”At least 175 people were killed Tuesday night by four truck bombs [...]” /Washington Post
– ”Trucks packed with two tons of TNT drove into [...]”/CNN
Lack of Human Agent
● Objectification
– ”The first, hidden in a watered truck, blew up when residents gathered to fill their jugs.” /ABC News
* These findings did not apply to the Augusta Chronicle
Unpredictable Media Coverage of Iraqi Violence
● Less Emphasis in the News
● LexisNexis searches:
– ”Yazidi” (date is between Aug 15-Aug 31)
– ”Iraqi Parliament” (date is between Apr 12-Apr 27)
Unpredictable Media Coverage of Iraqi Violence
● LexisNexis searches:
Source “Iraqi Parliament”CNN 20 41MSNBC 1 3NBC 1 2Fox News 1 6ABC News 1 13NYT 5 5Washington Post 7 12Augusta Chronicle 2 2
“Yazidi”
Unpredictable Media Coverage of Iraqi Violence
● Google Search:
– ”Iraqi Parliament” attack: 138,000
– ”Yazidi” attack: 32,500
– ”Yazidi” attack august: 18,000
Other Findings
● Body Taboo
– Non-western bodies more likely to be shown
– Body taboo weakened
● Varying Death Tolls
– Print: ~175-190
– Video: ~230-500
Conclusion
● I have
– shown how a few different news sources share similarities while presenting stories in different ways.
– shown that there are aspects of each news story that can be questioned.
● An active reader must get news from multiple sources in order to get a better picture of reality.
References
● Associated Press. 2007. ”Four Suicide Bombings Kill at Least 175 People.” The Augusta Chronicle (Georgia), 15 August, A01 [Text found with LexisNexis: Go to source, filter by United States, Georgia, Newspaper, Augusta Chronicle ... click ok... search terms ”four suicide bombings” ... select first article]
● Brown, Robin. 2003. “Spinning the War: Political Communications, Information Operations and Public Diplomacy in the War on Terrorism.” War and the Media: Reporting Conflict 24/7. Thussu, Daya Kishan (Editor).
● Cave, Damien. 2007. “4 Truck Bombs Kill 190 in Kurdish Area of Iraq.” The New York Times, 15 August, A01. [location in paper (A01) was found with LexisNexis]
● Gibson, Charles and Miguel Marquez. 2007. “Deadliest Day; Worst Attack on Iraqi Civilians.” ABC News (Transcript), 15 August. Found with LexisNexis: Search for source = transcripts, search terms = Worst attack on Iraqi civilians. Accompanying video found with a Tyndall Report for August 15, 2007: http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=3484240
●
References
● Greenwell, Megan and Diovan Brwari. 2007. “Truck Bombs Kill 175 in Iraq’s North: Religious Sect Targeted by 4 Coordinated Blasts.” Washington Post, 15 August, A01.
● Herbst, Phillip. 2003. Talking Terrorism: A Dictionary of the Loaded Language of Political Violence. Westport, Greenwood Press.
● Kohn, Bob. 2003. Journalistic Fraud: How the New York Times Distorts the News and Why It Can No Longer Be Trusted. Nashville, WND Books.
● Nacos, Brigitte L. 2007. Mass-Mediated Terrorism: The Central Role of the Media in Terrorism and Counterterrorism. Lanham, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
● Norris, Pippa, Montague Kern, and Marion Just. Framing Terrorism …document found through google search for “Framing Terrorism”.
●
References
● Perlmutter, David D. and Lesa Hatley Major. 2004. “Images of Horror From Fallujah: The Transparency of Angst and Indecision about the Fallujah Images have been Good for Journalism.” Neiman Reports. Summer.
● Wilkinson, Paul. 1997. “The Media and Terrorism: A Reassessment.” Terrorism and Political Violence. Vol. 9, No.2, Published by Frank Cass London.Norris, Pippa, Montague Kern, and Marion Just. Framing Terrorism …document found through google search for “Framing Terrorism”.Kohn, Bob. 2003. Journalistic Fraud: How the New York Times Distorts the News and Why It Can No Longer Be Trusted. Nashville, WND Books.