Patriotism in the News: “Rally Round the Flag”

Abstract

In the United States, journalists learn the importance of objectivity, fairness, and independence. However, these values are often undermined, especially in times of crisis. Following the September 11 attacks, the media responded with a particularly patriotic slant to their reporting. Television news was marked by news reporters wearing flag pins; flag images; and red, white, and blue patriotic banners. An experiment using patriotic and neutral news stories shows that, generally, viewers of patriotic images didn't report that patriotic news stories were less fair, sensational, biased, accurate, important, newsworthy, or balanced. There were exceptions, however, as Democrats and liberals perceived the anchor to be less objective in one patriotic news story (about terrorism). Although viewers (as a whole) of patriotic news didn't think these stories adhered less to journalistic norms, some groups were affected by the patriotic news in one important way. Certain groups who viewed the patriotic news stories were significantly less likely to be afraid of future terrorist attacks than those who watched the neutral stories. The results of this experiment suggest that Americans are comfortable with the flag and other patriotic images enmeshed in their news broadcasts and that, for some, these images lessen the fear of a future terrorist attack.