Defining crisis news events

Abstract

Research on news organizations' handling of 'what-a-story's proposes that journalists find routines for handling these events based on their previous experiences of similar situations. Still, conceptual discussions on how to define extraordinary events or 'what-a-story's have thus far attracted limited interest. In response, the present article proposes a definition of 'what-a-story's in order to provide an understanding of what events become a part of news organizations' historical case banks. Accordingly, the aim of the article is to present a definition of crisis news events from an organizational perspective, which can help distinguish critical news events of importance to news organizations' learning and preparedness. The article argues that crisis news are to be understood as surprise events that challenge key organizational values and demand a swift response. Based on interviews with Swedish broadcasting media managers, the article illustrates how the September 11th terror attacks can be defined as a crisis event.