Plan to burn Qurans ignites media frenzy

Pastor Terry Jones of Gainesville, Fla., got a bit of local press last Sept. 11 when members of his small congregation stood on the side of the road wearing "Islam is of the devil" T-shirts. This year, he has upped the ante with an anti-Islam stunt that has whipped the national media in a frenzy.

On Wednesday, Jones' plan to burn Qurans to commemorate 9/11 made the front pages of more than 50 U.S. newspapers — a number that's larger than the membership of his entire congregation at the Dove World Outreach Center. Still, Jones' story wasn't confined to the front pages of print outlets like the Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald and Anchorage Daily News. Three broadcast networks — ABC , NBC and CBS — featured the Quran-burning story prominently on their websites Wednesday. And Jones was discussed on four cable news networks — Fox News, MSNBC, CNN and HLN — more than 80 times, according to the TV tracking site Critical Mention.

And that was just one day. By Thursday, Jones graced the cover of USA Today and was again a hot topic in the morning after President Obama's condemnation of Jones' plan on ABC's "Good Morning America." (The Yahoo! homepage Thursday morning had an Associated Press story on Obama's remarks. The Upshot too has previously covered Jones' plan, with a Wednesday post also landing on the Yahoo! homepage.) Now, the fringe-turned-national story appears to be only gaining steam as Sept. 11 approaches, and networks may be faced with the deciding the news value of broadcasting images of an extremist Christian pastor burning the Muslim holy book.

As of now, the networks aren't able to predict whether Jones will go through with his stated ambitions, so the decision on what to cover remains up in the air.

"We are covering the controversy but won't decide on video we will or will not use until we actually see it," an ABC News spokeswoman told The Upshot. "Any video we do present will be put in context for our audience."

Similarly, a CBS spokeswoman said that the network "will cover the story with the appropriate context, as we would any other news story."

[AP will not distribute photos of Quran-burning]

It's unclear just what the images from Gainesville might look like, but in the days leading up to the event, national media coverage has been feeding upon itself as more public figures are dragged into the fray.

Most journalists would probably agree that the rantings of a fanatical preacher in Florida shouldn't be front-page news across the United States and a lead story on national newscasts. However, the story appears to carry more weight as major officials and world leaders continue to weigh in. So after a few big names comment, and garner headlines, it then seems rational to ask the president of the United States -- or Secretary of State Hillary Clinton or Gen. David Petraeus -- for their thoughts on the overheated controversy. Although any mainstream political figure is going to condemn Jones, journalists will ask because the responses themselves make news.

As MSNBC's "Morning Joe" played a clip Thursday of Obama's criticism, co-host Mika Brzezinski issued a disclaimer, insisting that the media is justified in covering the statements of public figures.

"Before we roll this sound bite, I would just like to say we are not part of the problem here," Brzezinski said. "A lot of people say the media's over-covering this and running to this pastor. We're only covering this because the president, the secretary of state, the general in charge of Afghanistan, and 10 Downing Street are now all talking about this Quran-burning event."

Likewise, Brzezinski's network colleague Dylan Ratigan introduced a Wednesday segment on the controversy by acknowledging that the media play a role in building up the controversy, but then are simultaneously forced to cover it.

"Should anyone, including us, still be talking about this guy?" Ratigan asked. "And why are Cabinet members doing the same thing? Is it an echo chamber — we just provoke each other foolishly? Maybe."

Probably. Ratigan later went on to call Jones a "stupid crackpot" while noting that he and his producers decided only to cover the story that day because Petraeus commented on how the stunt could inflame the Muslim world and endanger U.S. troops abroad.

[First Person: An American Muslim remembers 9/11]

In that way, the Quran-burning story has something in common with the debate over Park51, the proposed Islamic center near ground zero. That story had been receding from the headlines until Obama offered his take, sending the 24/7 news cycle into overdrive.

On Thursday, "Good Morning America" host George Stephanopoulos asked Obama about the economy, the midterms and other pressing issues during an exclusive sit-down. But it's likely that the remark on Quran-burning will get the most attention. (Indeed, it's the headline Stephanopoulos went with on his blog.)

Similarly, NBC anchor Brian Williams' question to Petraeus about Quran-burning led to a sound bite that reverberated throughout the news cycle Wednesday and overshadowed other responses on the war in Afghanistan.

It's telling that Petraeus recently did a round of media interviews but the Quran-burning story didn't come up. Although the story has been out there since midsummer, it only recently became a big television news debate and continues gaining significance (or the appearance of significance) the longer it gets batted around on air.

The first article on Jones' plan, some six weeks ago, appears to be from the Religion News Service. The July 21 piece — "Fla. Church Plans to Burn Qurans on 9/11 Anniversary" — appeared on Pew's religion issue site and got a bit of pickup. (The Upshot mentioned it July 26.) But the story remained more of a curiosity than national controversy.

CNN host Rick Sanchez elevated the story just over a week later in an interview with Jones, and CNN.com ran a short piece the next day. The story continued getting picked up steadily on local, national and international outlets in August, according to a Lexis-Nexis search. But only in the past couple weeks did major news outlets -- whether print, cable or online -- devote significant attention to the story (which also has received lots of attention on blogs and Twitter). On Aug. 25, the New York Times ran a profile of Jones, saying that "in another era, he might have been easily ignored."

But clearly not in this media-saturated era.

"We're a country of what, 310-million-plus right now," Clinton said Wednesday. "And it's regrettable that a pastor in Gainesville, Fla., with a church of no more than 50 people can make this outrageous and distressful, disgraceful plan and get the world's attention."

Clinton added that she hopes the "pastor decides not to do this" and that "we're hoping that if he does, it doesn't get covered" before starting to laugh for a moment with the reporters on hand. Of course, everyone knows it will be covered.

(Photo of Jones at a Wednesday news conference: AP/John Raoux)