The Media’s handling of The September 11th Terrorist Attacks

Media Coverage After the Attack:
Reason and Deliberative Democracy Put to the Test

http://csicop.org/genx/terrorattack/

    This article examines how news media covered the september 11th terroist attacks. initial respond was showing shock by world leaders and speculation of possible actions by presdient George Bush and of new york city’s mayor Rudy Gulliani. The next day the attack was being tagged as “new face of war” to “day of infamy” to “act of war’ and “its war”. “The news media’s overwhelming obsession with,scandal,sex and celebrity has failed to provide the American public with the necessary international context and understanding that might help people cope with the terrorist attack, and enable the public to apply some level of differentiated knowledge in the assessment of an impending american military response”.

     This can be called the spiral of silence as the media continued to tag the attacks as  war and therby fueling public opinion as that of retaliation and pressure  the government to respond. the minortiy of the population would have not agreed to the U.S millitary occupation of afghanistan and iraq, but with the media’s coverage of the event was so powerful and its solid opinion as potraying what happened as war, as a result most people kept their opinion to themselves because they thought they were in the minority and dint want to oppose the majority view when in fact the minorities are the majority.

     As a result we all know what happened next…

Advertisement