According to Greer as cited in “Four Habits of International News Reporting” by Moeller (1999), there are four habits that media adopts when crisis coverage is involved: the formulaic coverage of news, usage of dramatic and overstated words, referring current crisis to old incidents, and covering news related to Americans.
An implementation of exaggerated usage of words can be seen in the title of a news article about the protests going on in Lebanon since 2019.
“A Country on Fire: Lebanon’s October Revolution in Context.”
An article written by Battah (2009) indicating the coverage system of the Gaza war on 2009 in American news stations illustrates these habits.
The formulaic coverage appeared when the American coverage normalized the war in Gaza and was giving the stories about this topic little time on screens where other less important subjects were given more time to be reported.
Using exaggerated and sensationalized expressions where present when ABC correspondent Simon McGergor-Wood, as cited in “In the U.S., Gaza is a Different War” by Battah (2009), described the Israelis actions as “everything they can to alleviate the humanitarian crisis.”
The coverage of the Gaza war was connected to the American audience as Israel is aligned with America which enhanced the coverage of the topic but from the eyes of Israelis rather than balancing the two opposite sides.
Reference list:
Moeller, S. (1999). Four Habits of International News Reporting (read pages 1-6 only): In Compassion fatigue. London: Routledge.https://frameworksinstitute.org/assets/files/PDF_GII/four_habits_of_news_reporting.pd f
Battah, H. (2009): In the U.S., Gaza is a Different War. Al-Jazeera. Retrieved from:https://www.aljazeera.com/focus/war_on_gaza/2009/01/20091585448204690.html
Hodges, E (2019):A Country on Fire: Lebanon’s October Revolution in Context. LAWFARE. Retrieved from:https://www.lawfareblog.com/country-fire-lebanons-october-revolution-context
Xiaoyue Zhang 