On the Trail of the D.C. Sniper: Fear and the Media

Chapter 3: The Nation and the World

THREE The Nation and the World Despite the prominence of the Washington Post and television wall-towall broadcasts, numerous other purveyors of information interested themselves in Washington’s sniper events. In fact, although numbers remain uncertain, there likely were more journalists than police of- ficers directly reporting on and investigating the event. Any attempt to read all of these periodicals and electronic media, much less systematically discuss them, must inevitably founder. Consequently, this study takes a sounding, somewhat selected, of the vast sea of material containing many currents and uncounted depths of backwaters. This chapter explores the journalistic efforts, with a section focused on outlets mainly interested in the news and a second section dealing with media primarily interested in opinion. Although important exceptions exist and variations in emphases abound, overall this coverage promotes a strong element of pervasive fear, although examples appear of coping in such a difficult situation. But what is mainly missing is any interest in constructing community. In this way, the main stream of the coverage does not provide even the main element of support available in the Post. At the beginning of this chapter is a survey of local-area reports. ‘‘Local areas’’ are defined as those places, from the Washington suburbs through Richmond, that were directly affected by the shootings. Three daily newspapers, one all-news radio channel, and four local television channels in Washington with regularly scheduled newscasts were selected for analysis of this coverage. Subsequent sections consider national and international coverage. Like the Post, local outlets, even television stations, tended to convey themes more than chronology. Yet a very important difference ex- Ω∂ on the trail of the d.c. sniper isted in this coverage. While the Post emphasized fear, it also countered with news of community spirit. Local competitors tilted far more to the former. The great exception to this emphasis on fear was the fascinating reporting in the Washington Times, a paper which, though published in Washington, mainly focuses on national and international news and considers itself a conservative commentator on national and international affairs. Perhaps because of this orientation, the Times devoted relatively little to the sniper case. More unusual, however, was its perspective. Although the paper would eventually map its own path, it began like most local outlets. It published one of its early stories on October ∫, after the shooting at Benjamin Tasker School focused attention on the vulnerability of children to attack by the sniper. The article depicted one student’s leaving the school crying and expressing his relief that his father was picking him up. The reporter matched this anxiety with Police Chief Moose’s fighting back tears in his despair over that shooting . Another report featured a daughter who reminded her father that there was nothing one could do to be careful enough in such circumstances . Although the article expanded from news story into the realm of an editorial, which concluded by encouraging readers to push on with life, its tenor suggested panic rather than fearful accommodation. Diana West,∞ in an article published on October ∞∞ about business in the suburbs, wondered aloud whether the sniper was a terrorist. The piece noted that while these questions remained unanswered, most doubted the violence came from terrorists. And it also described the height of the first wave of shootings, on Thursday, October ≥, as filled with ‘‘barely contained fear and chaos.’’ Particularly upsetting was the report that a truck fitting the description of the sniper vehicle had been allowed to make a delivery at an elementary school. This article also ∞. Diana West, a Washington Times op-ed columnist from ∞ΩΩΩ to ≤≠≠≤, is currently a weekly columnist for the Newspaper Enterprise Association. A graduate of Yale University, her work has appeared in numerous publications, including the Wall Street Journal, the Weekly Standard, the Washington Post, the Women’s Quarterly , and the Atlantic Monthly. Although she has worked in feature writing, she is known for her criticisms of the hot-button issues of the day. Her work at the Times focused on American culture and society, government affairs, and political scandals . She continues to contribute to the paper, although she resigned her position in ≤≠≠≤. (Source: United Features Syndicate Newspaper Enterprise Association website , http://www.featurebank.com/?title=Bio:Diana%≤≠West.) the nation and the world Ω∑ concluded with the urging that people needed to continue on in the face of these fears. This style of reporting could be found even...