The Oklahoma City Bombing: Institutional Practices by Journalists Covering the Biggest Story of Their Lives

ABSTRACT

This historical case study looks at the Oklahoma City bombing through the eyes of the local journalists who covered it. This study examined how theory concerning institutional codes and rules translated to journalism practice during an event that killed 168 people in 1995. More than 1,700 pages of transcripts of interviews with 83 local journalists were reviewed at the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum. These accounts serve as evidence of a link between professional journalism practices and the institutional rules taught in journalism schools and outlined in journalistic ethics codes. The journalists’ most powerful motivation was a sense of responsibility informed by core journalistic principles such as seeking the truth, providing accurate information, and remaining impartial and fair. The journalists spoke of following unwritten rules calling for risk-taking, emotional detachment, and stoicism. The journalists also talked about experiencing symptoms common to those suffering from trauma-and stressor-related mental disorders. The coverage also was historically significant because of how a bank loan officer’s wrenching Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of an Oklahoma City firefighter holding the body of a bloodied child augured the rise of citizen journalists and the new ethical challenges faced by mainstream media outlets in the coming Internet age.

KEYWORDS:

• Oklahoma City bombing
• professional practice
• trauma
• institutional theory
• journalism ethics
• journalism history‌

Disclosure Statement

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