Media prototypes: don’t go in the water!
One of the interesting things I found in this report by Professors Boomgaarden and Vliegenthart was the idea of ‘prototypes’ in the media. Certain events, such as earthquakes, lead to more coverage of similar events in the following period. This occurs despite a decrease in the number of incidents compared to the period before the key event took place. Such events often grow lives of their own, often leading to media exploitation and hype over a particular story or topic. Any following events connected to this particular topic are often amplified during these ‘news waves’, as described by Vasterman in this report. We’ve seen it recently with the reports on swine flu and Sydney bikie gangs, but also with shark attacks.
A great white shark (from The Australian)
Based on this idea, one could expect that after a particularly brutal shark attack, any following shark attacks are more likely to receive coverage and attention in the media. The end of February/beginning of March saw an increase in shark attack stories in the Sydney media. The media response to the three highly publicised attacks on some of Sydney’s most popular beaches, including Bondi, was suitably hysterical. If two surfers and a navy diver aren’t safe from shark attacks, who is?
News reports hypothesised that the supposed increase in shark attacks was due to strict fishing regulations – after all, NSW has the tightest restrictions on fishing for sharks and the highest number of recorded shark attacks. Another popular theory was that an improvement in the water quality around Sydney attracted a larger number of the usual shark bait. The apparent feeding frenzy eventually led to finger-pointing, with the NSW Opposition blaming the State Government of not doing enough to protect swimmers from sharks. It’s almost as good as the marketing for Jaws: who would want to go in the water when there have been 51 shark attacks in NSW in this decade? It basically worked as well, with people banned from swimming at Bondi Beach.
The front page of the Daily Telegraph, 25th February 2009
Front pages, such as the above, were not surprising during this time.
Vasterman defined media-hype as a “media-generated, wall-to-wall news wave, triggered by one specific event and enlarged by the self-reinforcing processes within the news production of the media”. The sharp rise of news stories was the result of the media making news rather than reporting it, thus nourishing the hype (check out the Media Watch report on the Daily Telegraph and their reporting of an “ignored” shark threat). The constant reporting on shark attacks created an impression that the situation was dire and that we were entering a real crisis. However, some reports suggested that there was no change in the frequency of shark attacks in the past 20 years, and no increase in the number of sharks caught at netted beaches. Indeed, it’s been argued that sharks are far more likely than humans to be attacked in the water.
Self-inflating and exaggerating media coverage of the shark attacks in NSW ultimately created a threat that was not consistent with the reality of the situation. The accumulation of reporting created a false impression that such events are accumulating, which conflicts with journalistic standards such as reliability and balance. You are more likely to be injured in a car accident, or be struck by lightning than be attacked by a shark. There is also no evidence of a spike in the number of shark attacks this year beyond a natural fluctuation in numbers. Although three attacks in two days is unfortunate, it is also truly uncommon. Nevertheless, reactions to shark attacks are often based on emotion rather than reality facts. The media appeared all too happy to continue to supply the public with disturbing and progressively frenetic reporting.
(On a related note, this also ties in with Professor Boomgaarden’s notes on framing. This one specific frame led the media to focus solely on opinions and facts that would fit within the established frame (i.e. shark attacks are increasing in the Sydney area). Dissenting information seemed to be ignored by the major newspaper outlets – the only real investigative report that utilised different information was The 7:30 Report. As Vasterman argues, this leads to a reinforcement of the original frame, which makes it the only one that appears socially relevant.)
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Tags: media hype, print journalism, shark attacks, stamp of fail, tabloid journalism, The 7:30 Report, The Australian, The Daily Telegraph
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