Journalism After September 11

'Journalism After September 11' examines how the traumatic attacks of that day continue to transform the nature of journalism, particularly in the USA and Britain.

This exciting collection raises important questions regarding what journalism should look like after the events of September 11th. It will be necessary reading for those concerned with the integrity of journalistic practice.

How Did the World¡ ̄s News Media React to 9/11? Not surprisingly, most of the world¡ ̄s news media criticized the terrorists and offered sympathy and support to the United States in the days right after the September 11, 2001, attacks. But this phase didn¡ ̄t last long. With a week or two, many of the world¡ ̄s news media, even some in Western countries, were putting some of the blame for the attacks on the United States, citing its history of heavy-handed politics around the world. Many hoped the attacks would ¡°wake up¡± the United States to this fact. But the subsequent U.S.-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq dashed these hopes. Today, much of the sympathy and support generated from the tragedy has dissipated ¡a replaced, instead, by a widespread belief that political leadership in the United States is more arrogant, intransigent and self-absorbed than ever. This is the major theme of How the World¡ ̄s News Media Reacted to 9/11, which contains 22 chapters, written by scholars and experts from around the world, that examine news media coverage of 9/11 from more than two dozen countries. The ¡°arrogance¡± theme isn¡ ̄t one that many U.S. politicians, journalists and citizens want to hear. But it¡ ̄s the message that the world¡ ̄s news media have been sending, and the question now is: Will U.S. media and politicians listen? Other key highlights in this book: ¡ñ American TV news channel news executives deliberately excluded controversial U.S. guests and opinions from their news coverage of 9/11 (Chapter 20). ¡ñ Media in Australia, Canada and other countries demonized Muslims and Arabs after 9/11 (Chapters 18 and 21). ¡ñ Ordinary Arabs and Muslims in the Middle East have distorted views of the United States, partly because their media do not provide all of the facts (Chapter 15), but Americans, too, misunderstand Muslims and Arabs, because U.S. media have failed to help Americans understand why much of the world hates their political leadership (numerous chapters).

From the Newsuem, America's only museum of news, comes the definitive book detailing behind the scenes of how journalist covered the deadly assaults of September 11, 2001.

This book offers an exploration of the comprehensive impact of the events of September 11, 2001, on every aspect of American culture and society. On Thanksgiving day after September 11, 2001, comic strip creators directed readers to donate money in their artwork, generating $50,000 in relief funds. The world's largest radio network, Clear Channel, sent a memo to all of its affiliated stations recommending 150 songs that should be eliminated from airplay because of assumptions that their lyrics would be perceived as offensive in light of the events of 9/11. On the first anniversary of September 11th, choirs around the world performed Mozart's Requiem at 8:46 am in each time zone, the time of the first attack on the World Trade Center. These examples are just three of the ways the world—but especially the United States—responded to the events of September 11, 2001. Each chapter in this book contains a chronological overview of the sea of changes in everyday life, literature, entertainment, news and media, and visual culture after September 11. Shorter essays focus on specific books, TV shows, songs, and films.

Containing new thinking and original surveys, Media & Cultural Theory brings together leading international scholars to address key issues and debates within media and cultural studies. Through the use of contemporary media and film texts such as Bridget Jones’ Diary and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and using case studies of the USA and the UK after September 11th, James Curran and David Morley examine central topics including: media representations of the new woman in contemporary society the creation of self in lifestyle media the nature of globalization the rise of digital actors and media. Ideal as a course reader, with each essay covering a different major area or advance in original research, Media & Cultural Theory is global in its reach. Through its engagement with broad questions, it is an invaluable book that can be applied to the studies of media and cultural studies students the English-speaking world over.

It ranked among journalism’s finest hours. That is what was heard in the weeks following September 11, 2001. They made mistakes, of course, but in covering one of the biggest disasters ever to hit the United States, journalists used their training, their experience, their understanding, and their sensitivity to provide coverage that helped bring understanding and a sense of calm to the chaos. Their performance did not end with reporting the immediate impact of the catastrophe. They continued to analyze what happened, the impact to property and human lives, the impact on government and foreign relations. Lessons from Ground Zero’s examines journalism’s efforts to cover a crisis, while analyzing journalism itself. Many lessons were evident to journalists as they sought to cope with the challenges of covering 9/11. The long-term question, however, is whether the answers they found served as catalysts for better journalism in the future, or whether they have been forgotten, put into the closet of old memories with no noticeable long-term impact. This book analyzes journalists’ response to 9/11 through scholarly research and interviews with many of the journalists who covered 9/11. Sometimes they do not agree, but all are thoughtful and each adds to understanding. Public opinion polls show clearly that citizens appreciated and responded to media coverage. Given that this occurred in a time frame in which public approval of American journalism had declined, it is reasonable to ask what the media did that was different from their normal practices. This book provides some of the answers.