The events of Sept. 11, 2001, may have changed the world forever, but within the confines of journalism, the effects have proven more fleeting.
In the days after the attack, news organizations responded with all the seriousness the moment called for. Lifestyle and celebrity news was quickly replaced by hard-edged, substantive reports on a national crisis with global implications.
Almost overnight, the public’s opinion of journalists soared. They were seen as more accurate, more professional, and more patriotic than at any time in recent memory.
But as we enter the 9/11 anniversary week, with saturation coverage everywhere you turn, things on the media front have drifted back toward pre-9/11 status. On the networks, soft news is back in vogue. And, perhaps not so coincidentally, Americans’ view of journalists is as skeptical as ever.
But it would be wrong to say that nothing has changed in America’s newsrooms. The legacy of 9/11 may be subtle, but it’s there. The difference is captured in a comment made by Bob Quinn, the editor-at-large of the Middletown, N.Y., Times Herald-Record, in a nonscientific but informative survey by the Poynter Institute, a media think tank.
”As I’ve reminded the staff from time to time, our lead story on the Saturday before Sept. 11 was about the theft of lawn ornaments,” said Quinn. ”That won’t happen again.”
Indeed, some of the more frivolous fare that once graced the nation’s front pages is gone. On the networks, the morning news shows (although not the evening ones) have retained some of the substance they added in the wake of 9/11, according to Tom Rosenstiel of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, which examined the networks’ evolving news mix from October to April.
”While the press has gone back to its old habits,” says Rosensteil, ”it’s not gone all the way back.”
Another change: local news is less myopic, more likely to be reported in a national or even international context. As an editor told the Poynter survey: ”Reporters are no longer allowed the luxury of ignoring international news.”
News about potential conflict involving the United States is getting plenty of attention. It’s arguable that the coverage of White House intentions in Iraq is greater today than if the same ”oust Saddam” call had gone out from the White House last summer.
Then there are more nuts-and-bolts staffing changes that flowed from 9/11. The Globe, for example, went from one to three transportation reporters over six months. Two reporters were assigned to cover security as part of a new statewide law enforcement beat. Another reporter was moved from the financial desk to cover the Arab world.
But what of the more philosopical changes at the Globe? Has it grown more serious in its story selection, more broad-ranging in its local coverage?
The first question is tricky. There’s no doubt that, over the past year, the Globe has moved away from softer features and increasingly emphasized stories with a harder news edge. But it’s difficult to say how much of that shift would have happened anyway under the leadership of new editor Martin Baron, who arrived six weeks before 9/11. It’s probably safe to say that the news-charged atmosphere of events last fall has made Baron’s quest for more substantive stories easier; during a national crisis, in-house advocates for lifestyle stories simply hold less sway.
Baron says of 9/11, ”It reaffirmed our commitment to foreign coverage,” but he notes that commitment was already there.
Using calls to the ombudsman as a gauge, the harder news bent, whatever its origin, is a welcome development. It speaks to those readers who regularly complain that the Globe lacks weight, whether on foreign affairs or State House coverage.
As for 9/11′s impact on local coverage, the Globe’s deputy managing editor for metro news, Peter Canellos, says, ”I would be hesitant to say it has suddenly opened our eyes to the world, because there’s been an ongoing effort to broaden metro coverage. But certainly in the wake of 9/11 we’ve been much more aware of cultural issues and safety issues.” Cases in point: coverage in May of the unease caused by four Muslim customers praying in BJ’s wholesale club in Stoughton and, separately, a visit by three men described as Middle Eastern to a school in Brookline.
Nationally, journalists are divided on whether their craft was changed by 9/11. In the Poynter survey, more said no than yes to that question. And there are doubts about the staying power of a more serious approach to news.
Says Baron, speaking generally and not about the Globe, ”I am very skeptical that the American media will end up in a more serious place over the long run, unless news events force them to.”
The ombudsman represents the readers. Phone 617-929-3020 or, to leave a message, 929-3022. E-mail: ombud@globe.com.
