The Boston Marathon Bombing: media impact

At 2:49pm on April 15, 2013, 2 pressure hooker bombs exploded 14 second apart near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, leaving three killed, sixteen amputated, and hundreds injured (Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, 2014).

The Boston Marathon bombings, also known as “America’s first fully interactive national tragedy of the social media age” (Kakutani, 2013), was the first successful terrorist bombing on U.S. soil since 9/11 (Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, 2013).

The Boston Globe broke the news tweeting a witness hearing “two loud booms near the Boston Marathon finish line” at 2:57pm. Around 4:30pm, Twitter (now X) alone recorded more than 700,000 mentions of keywords “Boston Marathon”, many providing initial eyewitness images to the bombing. At the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)’s press release on April 16, Special Agent in Charge Richard DesLauriers asked for citizen cooperation and stated that “both of the explosives were placed in a dark-colored nylon bag or backpack”.

Among the estimated one million hours of collected footage (Montgomery, Horwitz and Fisher, 2013), one frame depicted 16-year-old Salaheddin Barhoum and 24-year-old Yassine Zaimi attending the marathon with their duffle bag and backpack. On April 18, New York Post published the picture under the headline “Bag Men” on the front page, stating that “Feds seek these two pictured at the Boston Marathon” (Carver, 2013). Previously, they also identified a Saudi suspect and reported 12 people killed in initial blasts (Simpson, 2013).

Barhoum and Zaimi were not formally listed as suspects (Wemple, 2014). An online community called “findbostonbombers”, received most attention for its members’ “unofficial investigations” (Fahrenthold and Dewey, 2013). Anonymous administrators asked community members to find people carrying black bags and post them if “they look suspicious” (Montgomery, Horwitz and Fisher, 2013), a judgement based entirely on individual biases. Out of fear for “further damages” (Montgomery, Horwitz and Fisher, 2013), the FBI released photos of “Suspect 1” wearing black hat and “Suspect 2” wearing white hat, later identified as the Chechen brothers Tamerlan Tsarnaev and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

The colossal negative impacts, both immediate and delayed, were inevitable. New York Post’s error rather ignited than conspired them.

Al-Qaeda, a terrorist militant characterized by its extremist interpretation of Islam and “Jihad” (Holy War) ideology (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2001), claimed responsibility for the 9/11 attack. Two years after the United States Navy SEALs shot and killed Osama bin Laden (founder of Al-Qaeda) in 2011 (Memmott, 2013), the Boston Marathon bombing pulled America out of the post-9/11 era of healing. Before the bombing took place, New York Post was only prepared to report on the celebratory marathon commemorating the start of the Revolutionary War 238 years ago (Boston Athletic Association, 2023). The detonation of two bombs transitioned the marathon into a “conflictual media event” centering “terror attacks, disasters or wars” (Hepp and Couldry, 2010). New York Post was caught off guard and consequently failed to process the unprecedented influx of eyewitness images properly and published a biased article without adequate factchecking.

Sporting events like the marathon have been symbolic targets for terrorist attacks (U.S. Department of Justice, 2015) because they attract high media coverage. Terrorist organizations rely on mediatization to capture public attention and exemplify fear (Holt and de La Brosse, 2019). The New York Post’s rush to break the news and attract viewership overlapped with the terrorists’ intentions. Repeated misinformation from an authorized media outlet easily escalates society’s overall stress level. A survey conducted between April 29 and May 13, 2013, found higher stress across all U.S. states in response to repeated media exposure (Holman et al., 2014). Continual exposure to fear is positively correlated to increased risk of mental and physical disorder (Shonkoff et al., 2012), diminished career success (Knudsen et al., 2006) and poorer economic decision-making (Delaney et al., 2014).

Audience relies on centralized media to stay informed on what happened at the bombings and during the manhunt. Connective media, however, provides many unverified perspectives and contrasts the professional news outlets which represent the trusted voice among misinformation and doubts. The blurred boundaries between professional and non-professional journalism gives rise to dependence on eyewitness images which have three key flaws: subjectivity, media institutional ambiguity and decontextualization (Mortensen, 2014, 2015). Photos and comments posted by users online mirror their fragmentary participation in the event and personal background. In the same way, eyewitness images are often taken out of context. While the media’s intent was to supply unbiased interpretation of the event, it varies among users online. In the online ecosystem, terrorists reinforce fear, victims unintentionally increase anxiety and angered bystanders project their fear while expressing hatred against minorities.

New York Post exposed itself stereotyping Middle Eastern students. “Let’s Hope the Boston Marathon Bomber is a White American” (Sirota, 2013 - Medill alumni), was accused of supporting anti-white racism with conservative politicians supporting profiling Muslims (Watson, 2018). While aimlessly fishing for the suspects, the online forum mostly focused on their skin colors. Common debates argued whether the Tsarnaev brothers should be considered as “Caucasian Americans” or “Muslims”, though one of them is an American citizen and the other was admitted as a permanent resident.

Use of headlines and images influence readers’ perception of events, especially at the initial stages of reporting. How the news is framed directly impacts what messages are communicated (Hunt and Jalette, 2021). The New York Post’s headlines put innocent bystanders under the spotlight and confirmed the construction of a hypothetical suspect based on racial assumptions. Giving platform to ill-intentioned individuals inescapably lead to “dramatization of facts, or a phantasmagoria of the terrorist phenomenon by the media” and exploitation of journalism as a propaganda tool (Holt and de La Brosse, 2019). New York Post amplified terrorists’ message and furthered stigma against the already marginalized Muslim community. The unintended impacts of its erroneous reporting were the result of accumulated stereotyping generated by eyewitness images. As a result, the two innocent bystanders identified on New York Post’s front page sued the newspaper in June 2013 for defamation (Wemple, 2014). The New York Post settled the lawsuit in October 2014 after receiving massive criticism for its dishonorable conduct.