The Media Theme Analysis

Watney’s apparent death, the discovery that he is alive, and the effort to rescue him are, for the duration of the novel, the biggest news story on Earth. People from around the world are caught up in the story of his against-all-odds survival, and CNN dedicates a new show, The Mark Watney Report, to keeping the public up-to-date on Watney’s life on Mars. NASA is keenly aware of the news coverage and the public’s emotional investment in the story. As events unfold, the news media put pressure on NASA to bring Watney home safely; in doing so, they hold NASA (a publicly-funded organization) accountable to the public.

Throughout the novel, Annie Montrose, NASA’s director of media relations, tries to balance her responsibility to keep the public informed of ongoing events and her duty to “spin” stories so that the public’s confidence in NASA remains high. As NASA Administrator, Teddy Sanders is the public face of the organization in a different way from Annie; he is well aware that both the public and the US government see him as responsible for both NASA’s successes and failures. What’s more, he knows that, since NASA is a publicly funded government organization, public opinion plays a critical role in whether or not future NASA missions receive funding. The American public has to believe that Mars explorations are worthwhile, or else NASA will cease to operate. It’s Teddy’s job, then, to make sure that news coverage and the public’s concern for Watney allow him to secure the emergency funding from Congress that the rescue mission needs.

While the funding for the rescue mission is an instance in which NASA and the news media’s interests align, their interests are more at odds when NASA’s top managers meet to discuss potential rescue strategies for Watney. Instead of simply pursuing the strategy that would be best for Watney, Teddy sees it has his job to make choices that do not further endanger NASA’s reputation. While he feels genuine concern for Watney, he also wants to make choices that avert any possible PR disaster, particularly because of the high-profile nature of the case. Teddy is unwilling, then, to risk the lives of the Hermes crew to save Watney, both because he would rather save five lives than one, and because the death of six astronauts would be worse for NASA’s reputation than the death of one astronaut. Mitch, the Ares 3 Flight Director sees Teddy’s preoccupation with NASA’s public image as cowardly, but Venkat, Director of Mars Operations, tends to support Teddy’s more cautious decisions. Ultimately, Weir suggests that only the Hermes crew can make the decision to risk their own lives in order to save Watney, though Weir is not unsympathetic to the difficult position that Teddy is in regarding NASA’s public reputation.

At first, Watney’s apparent death bodes poorly for the future of Ares missions, but by the end of the novel, his survival and rescue come to symbolize the pinnacle of hope, exploration, and scientific achievement. In The Martian’s final chapter, Weir describes people around the world gathering around televisions and in public places to watch news coverage of Watney’s rescue; spontaneous celebrations break out when the public learns that Watney is safely aboard Hermes. Watney himself marvels at how many people have been rooting for him during his year and a half on Mars, and Weir shows how media coverage not only keeps NASA accountable to the public, but creates the kind of collective cultural moment that occurs when Watney is rescued.