During crises, it’s challenging for journalists to keep their emotions out of reports. While broadcast journalists try to keep linguistic messages neutral, nonverbal behaviors are difficult to conceal. Graber’s stages of crisis coverage theory discusses routines of covering crisis and preventing verbal bias but doesn’t examine nonverbal bias. This study examines the neutrality of nonverbal expressions conveyed during the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School through the lens of the stages of crisis coverage theory. This study provides insight for understanding the responses news organizations should have in terms of crisis coverage. By examining the ways that the influence of emotional events have on the nonverbal expressivity of journalists during crisis, researchers can better understand the ritualization of the nonverbal neutrality standards of the profession and make recommendations on potential ways that the field could adapt their current crisis plans to consider nonverbal communication displays more explicitly. Further, by combining crisis planning, media ritualization practices, and journalistic nonverbal expression, this research provides further insight into how performance by media during a crisis can influence cultural meaning about the event for viewers. The findings in this study also suggest the stages of crisis coverage theory was not upheld by broadcasters in this context, calling for reexamination of the theory’s uses and applications to all crisis coverage.

在危机期间，让记者保持情感不受报道的挑战。尽管广播新闻工作者试图保持语言信息的中立，但非语言行为却难以掩盖。Graber的危机覆盖理论阶段讨论了掩盖危机和防止口头偏见的例程，但没有研究非语言偏见。这项研究通过危机覆盖理论阶段的视角，考察了桑迪·胡克小学2012年集体射击期间传达的非语言表达的中立性。这项研究为了解新闻机构在危机报道方面应采取的应对措施提供了见识。通过研究情感事件对危机期间记者非言语表达的影响方式，研究人员可以更好地理解该行业非语言中立标准的仪式化，并就该领域可以调整其当前危机计划以更明确地考虑非语言交流显示的潜在方式提出建议。此外，通过将危机策划，媒体仪式化实践和新闻非语言表达相结合，这项研究可以进一步了解危机期间媒体的表现如何影响观看者对事件的文化含义。这项研究的发现还表明，在这种情况下，广播公司并未坚持危机覆盖理论的各个阶段，要求重新审查该理论对所有危机覆盖的使用和应用。