Synopses & Reviews
The lucidly written, sobering account of how the press fared in covering the tragedy and how news organizations might improve on their disasters coverage in the future.
--Quill
On a bitter December night in 1988, Pan Am Flight 103, the Maid of the Seas, flying from Frankfurt to New York, exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people. Among the victims were citizens from over 21 countries, 11 villagers, and 35 Syracuse University students returning home from studying abroad. The bombing set in motion a drama of epic proportions, played out on television screens and newspaper pages around the world.
Scenes from the tragedy etched themselves on the public consciousness: a screaming mother at Kennedy Airport, collapsing upon learning of the fate of her child; flames engulfing the modest homes of Lockerbie; weeping Syracuse University students in mourning at a basketball game; the mangled cockpit of the jumbo jet resting in an idyllic Scottish meadow.
Behind these scenes, another drama unfolded: Hundreds of journalists swarmed to the traumatized village. In New York, scores of reporters, photographers, and cameramen rushed to the airport to record the reactions of bereaved family members. All over the country, people watched the names of the dead scrolling across their televisions, many praying for those presumed to be on board. The disaster also engulfed institutions, many unprepared to mediate between the public's need for informations and the need for privacy by those most affected.
In engrossing detail, THE MEDIA AND DISASTERS chronicles the story behind the headlines, illustrating how the media and the people it encounter in pursuit of the news experienced and affected the journalistic process. The book addresses, in narrative fashion, the universal themes common to most tragedies, emphasizing the increasingly powerful role of the media and its agents in representing such catastrophes to the world.
Joan Deppa and her coauthors, all of whom witnessed the effects of this media coverage at Syracuse University, focus on reactions to the disaster--individual and collective. Journalists, police, government officials, rescue workers, and witnesses all had to make important ethical decisions immediately, under conditions of great stress:
--how should families of the victims be informed?
--What could journalists do to get the story without adding to the distress of grieving families and friends?
--should the terrible human carnage of such a disaster be conveyed--in words, in photographs, on television?
One particularly telling debate on these issues pits editors of the New York Daily Newsagainst those of Newsday.
The destruction of Flight 103 forever altered the media landscape. It marked a watershed moment in media history, a turning point in the global coverage of disasters. Just as the Gulf War was piped directly into living rooms two years later, disasters were now live events. THE MEDIA AND DISASTERS is must reading for anyone interested in journalism, communications, the evolution of the media, and institutional responses to disaster.
Review
“The Fat Studies Reader does the important work of exploding assumed connections between weight and health. . .Feminists of all sizes who care about the answers should jump in to continue the discussion.”
-Bitch Magazine,
Review
“The publication of The Fat Studies Reader is a watershed in the institutionalization of this new subfield. The thick volume comprises forty succinct pieces authored by a mix of established researchers and budding new scholars, overwhelmingly women, working in diverse academic fields.”
-The Women's Review of Books,
Review
“The essays rarely come across as didactic, and the milestone achievement of this collection is the way it combines public policy and chick-lit, eroto-politics and gay chubb-chasers, job discrimination and lesbian size queens.”
-Curve Magazine,
Review
“It is, so far as I know, the first book of its kind on fat studies and hence represents essential reading for those who want to know what fat studies is all about as well as for those who have working in some component of the field but want a collection that deals with a vast variety of issues and places the movement in a wider context.”
-Metapsychology Online Reviews,
Review
"This book wastes no time getting in the reader's face about its intentions to break critical ground on the emerging field of fat studies and the need to combat inequities limiting the lives of fat people. The tone is strident; the essays will provoke reactions, especially from scholars studying obesity and other weight-related issues within a public health framework... This unapologetic reader, laced throughout with theory, analysis, and research findings, is written in a consistently direct and impassioned style. It is an invaluable map of fat studies, giving voice to its proponents and outlining an agenda for future work. Summing Up: Essential."-CHOICE,
Synopsis
Winner of the 2010 Distinguished Publication Award from the Association for Women in PsychologyWinner of the 2010 Susan Koppelman Award for the Best Edited Volume in Womens Studies from the Popular Culture Association
We have all seen the segments on television news shows: A fat person walking on the sidewalk, her face out of frame so she can't be identified, as some disconcerting findings about the "obesity epidemic" stalking the nation are read by a disembodied voice. And we have seen the movies—their obvious lack of large leading actors silently speaking volumes. From the government, health industry, diet industry, news media, and popular culture we hear that we should all be focused on our weight. But is this national obsession with weight and thinness good for us? Or is it just another form of prejudice—one with especially dire consequences for many already disenfranchised groups?
For decades a growing cadre of scholars has been examining the role of body weight in society, critiquing the underlying assumptions, prejudices, and effects of how people perceive and relate to fatness. This burgeoning movement, known as fat studies, includes scholars from every field, as well as activists, artists, and intellectuals. The Fat Studies Reader is a milestone achievement, bringing together fifty-three diverse voices to explore a wide range of topics related to body weight. From the historical construction of fatness to public health policy, from job discrimination to social class disparities, from chick-lit to airline seats, this collection covers it all.
Edited by two leaders in the field, The Fat Studies Reader is an invaluable resource that provides a historical overview of fat studies, an in-depth examination of the movement's fundamental concerns, and an up-to-date look at its innovative research.
About the Author
The authors are all professors in the Newhouse School of Public Communication at Syracuse University.
JOAN DEPPA teaches in the Newspaper Department and has more than 16 years experience as a newspaper and wire service journalist, including 7 years in Europe with UPI.
MARIA RUSSELL, who teaches Public Relations worked for 16 years as a public relations counselor, and freq
MARIA RUSSELL, who teaches Public Relations worked for 16 years as a public relations counselor, and frequently assists local, state, and national organizations in media relations training. A former television news reporter and weekend anchor for WIXT-TV, Syracuse,
DONA HAYES is chair of the Broadcast Journalism Department.
ELIZABETH LYNNE FLOCKE, a former newspaper reporter and editor, teaches in the Newspaper Department.
DONA HAYES is chair of the Broadcast Journalism Department.
ELIZABETH LYNNE FLOCKE, a former newspaper reporter and editor, teaches in the Newspaper Department.