Flag lapel pin ban: Discourses about journalism ethics, patriotism, and the first amendment two decades after a September 11 controversy

Abstract

This discourse analysis examined texts produced by citizens, journalists, and politicians in response to a television station news director’s ban on American flag lapel pins for on-air journalists following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The lapel pin ban sparked a national debate involving citizen outrage, journalistic reasoning, and legislative backlash. Taking advantage of this well-preserved historical context to use as a case study, the research question explored the competing discursive threads on journalism’s normative practices and roles in democracy. Literal and latent meanings embedded in discourses that invoked journalism ethics, symbolic patriotism, and the First Amendment offered a snapshot of how those involved in the public conversation positioned journalistic objectivity as a process and as a performance. Observations on the discursive clashes gleaned from the texts offer renewed considerations for current discussions about sensibilities of the audience, praxis of journalism ethics, editorial independence, and the role and refrain of personal expression for journalists of all mediums and platforms.