The Plane Truth: Airline Crashes, the Media, and Transportation Policy

Media coverage in the US of transportation issues focuses primarily on the causes and consequences of airline crashes. In the era of the 24-hour news cycle, coverage of airline crashes is immediate and widespread, as is speculation regarding the cause. Politicians with affected constituencies often propose legislation or initiate regulatory rulemaking in response to a particular incident, but meaningful change often does not occur. Political pressure to determine the causes of crashes, along with the conflicting missions of the federal agencies charged with investigating them, deflects attention from areas of aviation safety unrelated to a specific accident. In this text, Cobb and Primo examine the impact of high-visibility plane crashes on airline policy. The authors describe the typical responses of various players - elected officials, investigative agencies, airlines and the media. Looking at all airline crashes in the 1990s, they examine how particular features of an accident correspond to the level of media attention it receives, as well as how airline disasters affect public policy.