Understanding Audience Emotional Needs in Crisis Journalism: The Boston Globe’s Social Media Coverage of the Boston Marathon Bombing

ABSTRACT

This study examines the interaction between journalistic news posts and audience comments during a crisis, with attention to how various messaging approaches converged during the aftermath of the Boston Marathon Bombing—the first major terrorist incident of the social media age. Using Taylor’s Six-Segment Message Strategy Wheel, this manuscript explores how journalists and commenters responded to informational and emotional needs communicated on social media. Both inductive and deductive content analysis evaluated comments and posts on The Boston Globe’s Facebook page during the one-year period post-bombing. The findings highlight that The Globe’s social media coverage centered on meeting emotional needs rather than just providing updates and breaking news. Posts integrating sensory and social content received more thoughtful audience engagement than those that focused on the facts, implying that there may be situations where readers are better served by crisis journalism that addresses informational and emotional needs.

KEYWORDS:

• Message strategy
• gatewatching
• crisis journalism
• terrorism
• audience engagement
• emotions

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).