Obama's Sandy Hook Shooting Response: How Was It Covered by Mass Media?

President Obama's statement at the White House on December 14, 2012. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIA0W69U2_Y

On December 14, 2012, President Barack Obama made a statement on the shooting that occurred in Newtown, Connecticut. That day, twenty students and six adults were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School by a gunman. At the White House, President Obama addressed this mass tragedy in America to extend his condolences to the lives lost in the shooting, including innocent children and teachers. He encouraged Americans to assist the grieving community. He mentioned past shootings in America and stated that actions must be taken to prevent these events in the future. As a father himself, he ended the statement describing his heartfelt emotions and his plan to do everything he can to help the victims.

The Sandy Hook shooting was a terrorizing experience for the children involved, shown here being led out of the school by Connecticut State Police. Source: http://time.com/5160171/newtown-sandy-hook-parkland-school-shootings/

Within Obama’s speech, the most prominent rhetorical component is emotional appeal. Obama does not start the speech with an attention getter; instead, he calmly speaks about his condolences. One of his first phrases that stands out is “...each time I learn the news I react not as a President, but as anybody else would -- as a parent.” Here, Obama sets the tone that his role as a parent comes first, and he is with all of the parents throughout the country who are mourning over this incident. He states that “our hearts are broken today,” and describes the reality that the lives of “beautiful little kids” have been lost. Throughout his speech, Obama speaks in a very slow, somber tone. Nonverbally, he periodically stops the speech to wipe tears away from his eyes. While Obama does speak to other shootings that have occurred and the need for "meaningful action," he leaves the speech mostly on a note of support for the Newtown community, and emphasizes that love should be spread throughout American families. Thus, these components frame Obama’s message as articulating the Sandy Hook shooting as a tragic incident which deeply and emotionally affects Americans. Using emotional appeal, this message is effective, and providing details about his own role as a father offers genuine sincerity to the American public. His response was relevant for a national time of mourning.

Within one day of Obama’s speech, several major media sources published articles covering his statement, including CNN, The Telegraph, and The New York Times. The CNN and The Telegraph article included coverage that closely mirrored Obama's heartfelt message. In both of these articles' titles, the focus was on Obama's mourning and tears: CNN's title is "Wiping Away Tears, Obama Mourns Children Killed in School Shooting," and The Telegraph's title is "Connecticut School Shooting: Tearful Obama Mourns 'Beautiful Kids' of Sandy Hook Elementary." Thus, both of these articles immediately set the stage for commentary on an emotional speech. The body of the two articles followed suit. Obama's emotional response was highlighted, as the CNN article mentioned, "It was a rare emotional display for Obama," and The Telegraph noted it was "an unprecedented outpouring of emotion." While the CNN article included one sentence about the National Rifle Association and the issue of gun control, the rest of the article was focused on mentioning the sorrowful statements that Obama made. Both The Telegraph and CNN article referenced multiple quotes from Obama related to grief and mourning, and mentioned his tears many times. Thus, by emphasizing the emotional appeal used by Obama, these articles framed Obama's speech in line with his message -- with emotion, and a sense of tragedy for the state of America.

The image of Obama wiping away his tears was central in the coverage of his Sandy Hook shooting statement. Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/15/us/politics/obamas-reaction-to-connecticut-shooting-sets-stage-for-gun-debate.html

While The New York Times article also utilized the image of Obama wiping his tears away, the article did not further mention this nonverbal cue at all. The framing of Obama's response in this article was much different from the others. Titled "Obama's Cautious Call for Action Sets Stage to Revive Gun Debate," the article instead focused on the politics surrounding Obama's speech. From this article's perspective, what stood out more than the mourning and emotions was Obama's line, "We're going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of politics," which the writers stated, "[was] spoken as much in anger as in grief." The article then mentions criticism from politicians surrounding this sentence, many stating that "meaningful action" is not enough for the state of the country. While Obama intentionally stated, "regardless of politics," The New York Times article dove into some of the issues surrounding the politics, and Obama's inaction in the realm of gun control. Thus, this article framed Obama's speech much more as fuel for a political debate, and did not focus on Obama's message of grief and love for the families affected by the tragedy. 


Concluding Thoughts: 

The moment that President Obama learned of the Sandy Hook shooting from
John Brennan. Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/photo-obama-briefed-
sandy-hook-shooting-2017-12

In my view, the frame through which CNN and The Telegraph represented Obama’s speech was an accurate interpretation of his response to the Sandy Hook shooting. Both articles focused on the main points which were represented throughout the majority of Obama's speech, particularly his condolences to the families and his feelings as a father himself. I think some could say that these articles provided an abundance of attention for Obama's tears during the speech. I think that Obama's crying was a significant nonverbal cue to mention in the coverage, as it represented Obama's genuineness and emotions regarding the event; however, stating this multiple times throughout the articles, in their titles, and through visuals could have been a tactic to draw the audience in through emotional appeal. On the other hand, I think that The New York Times article's focus on the gun control debate was a biased representation of the speech. One paragraph out of eight in Obama's speech mentioned past shootings and the need for governmental action, but the article chose to solely cover this aspect without mentioning the other important parts of Obama's response to the tragic incident. Additionally, even though Obama was explicit in stating "regardless of politics," The New York Times represented his statement in a partisan, divisive way. This could certainly portray Obama much differently as a politician if one were to read this article instead of directly listening to his speech. For instance, while The New York Times article stated that his statement about action was spoken "in anger," to me it is clear from watching the speech that Obama's overall tone was much more solemn and melancholy than angry. According to the Marquette Law Review, "the business interests of a media conglomerate often dictate its news coverage." Thus, it makes sense why the media could choose to overemphasize emotional appeal or be quick to invoke political debate, as drama and feelings attract audiences to consume said media. Because portrayal of political events and journalistic coverage can often have this bias, it is important for the consumer to be aware of where he or she is receiving information and to have a level of media literacy. Markus Prior describes that audiences with knowledge of the "message source" are less likely to be swayed by "counter-attitudinal messages." Thus, understanding the credibility of sources is important when audiences receive their coverage through the mass media. Better yet, media consumers should look to the original source themselves, and develop their own interpretation of Obama's message and emotions displayed during his statement.


Sources:

• http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2012/12/us/sandy-hook-timeline/index.html
• https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamanewtownshooting.htm
• https://www.cnn.com/2012/12/14/us/obama-school-shooting/index.html
• https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9746604/Connecticut-school-shooting-Tearful-Obama-mourns-beautiful-kids-of-Sandy-Hook-Elementary.html
• https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/15/us/politics/obamas-reaction-to-connecticut-shooting-sets-stage-for-gun-debate.html
• https://scholarship.law.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1615&context=mulr 
• https://scholar.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/mprior/files/prior_mediapolarization.pdf