Boston Marathon Bombing

The Boston Marathon Bombings, prompted various actions and responses by people and groups in Boston and the USA, as well as around the world. These actions and responses changed over time and went through different phases as the events began to unfold.

At first the over-riding reaction and response to the bombings, right through from runners who were participating at the time, spectators, residents of Boston City, through to politicians and world leaders was one of sadness and compassion for those who had been killed and injured, and sympathy for the families of so many of the victims affected by the actions of the terrorists. In addition to these responses was a very clear message to the world from both the FBI in Boston, carrying out the investigations, and from the President of the US that the perpetrators of this horrific attack would be hunted

It is also interesting that the response from the media during this period of the first hours and days after the event, appeared to focus more on how few people had been killed, rather than the actual lives of those lost. Maybe this focus shows just what an impact the 9/11 terrorist attack had on the media in the US, where 3000 lives were lost, therefore the magnitude of a tragedy in the US since the 9/11 event, could be now seen as being measured by the number of lives lost. The media response to the Boston bombings was also very different to what occurred in previous terrorist attacks such as 9/11, due to changes in the use of social media and the impact these advancements in technology and the internet in the past 15 years has had on the release of information. The executive producer of a documentary of the Boston Bombings highlights the part that social media had to play in involving the public right from the second the bombs went off when he stated: “In