9/11 Journalism Impact

How Journalism Impacted the 9/11 Attack? In the twenty-first century, citizens have easy access to the news as their primary source of media. It is something ubiquitous in developed countries. One used to be able to access the news only through the newspaper, but now citizens can access it via the radio, television, and the internet. Citizens are able to acquire this knowledge through journalists, for the role of journalism is to provide coverage of events – whether it be local or global news -- and report it to the public. According to the Mooz-Lum movie, journalists, who documented the attack on the World Trade Center and the millions of lives lost, provided coverage of the events on September 11th. Journalism and photography have

On September 11th, nineteen terrorists of Saudi Arabian decent hijacked three planes and sent them on a path to the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. According to Reza Pankhurst, author of “A Legacy of 9/11: A Decade of Denial and Destruction,” Pankhurst stated that the reason for the attack was that the American government supported underrepresented regimes, extradition, and foreign intervention in the Middle East for its own political and economical gain (738). These actions led to a growing disfavor for the American government in the Middle East. In their opinion, United States had angered far too many Middle Eastern countries, and these citizens wished to exact revenge by “dispensing” the treatment they experienced to the American populace (739). According to “9/11 Attack,” this response manifested as the attacks on World Trade Center on September 11th, where approximately three thousand and four hundred people lost their lives. The journalism and photography coverage of this major event played a significant role in the creation of the Patriot Act and other controversial actions made by the American

According to Andrew Hoskins, the author of “Journalism And September 11 2001,” Barbie Zelizer, a professor of research, focuses on the cultural dimensions of journalism and she states that, “to press photographic depictions of ‘collective looking’ and considers how various visualizations of bearing witness to the site of the attack performed a therapeutic role” (135). Despite most of the American populace not being there to witness the destruction of the World Trade Center and the massive loss of life, citizens felt like they were at the scene and could heavily relate to the disaster. Not only was the September 11th attacks something that Americans had never experienced before, it was also something that journalists – people who see horrific and heinous things in their profession – had not experienced as well. In Memorium: New York City, the movie directed by Grey Brad, proclaimed September 11, 2001 as “the most documented event in history.” Even though In Memorium is a documentary about 9/11, the investigative journalism that took place still plays a huge role in American government and politics. Consequently, photographs and video footage of 9/11, in all of its gruesome and horror inducing detail, made a lasting impression in the American psyche, so much so that government passed the Patriot Act, which negates many, if not all, human