In this class, I learned to critically examine the news sources that are available to our generation and how to successfully use your personal news sphere. I also thought more about the role that technology plays in our lives and the influence that it has had on our generation as opposed to previous ones.
I think that in our new world of technology and globalization, that it's important to analyze where you get your news from and what your opinion is. We need to be careful not to be spoon fed our information and opinions because there are now so many media platforms.
I think that using blogger as our main platform for homework was a great idea and that it improves your writing to consistently write small pieces. I liked that this was something that was never too strenuous but always got me thinking. I think that writing for this blog helped me to write for other classes because it helped me get used to consistently writing.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
9/11: A Decade of News
The terrorist attack of September 11th was a significant event that impacted the lives of American citizens in a profound way in addition to being an exceptionally large media story. This event changed politics, economics and diplomatic relations across the world. Yet the impacts on the media realm are often overlooked. This tragedy was reported nearly immediately and has been an important domestic and international political issue, which has engendered discussion throughout the past decade. The role of the media in 9/11, as a source of info that paralleled real time events, was unprecedented and added to the significance of the attack in terms of everyday American life. An event of this magnitude was bound to have important consequences. A closer look at this event, in terms of media importance, shows the long-term impact 9/11 has had on American journalism.
One of the most important aspects of the media response to 9/11 terrorist attacks was the immediacy with which they were reported to the rest of the United States. Television networks were among the first to report the attacks on the Twin Towers with the first broadcast occurring at 8:48 AM just minutes after the attacks. For example, ABC’s Good Morning America interrupted it’s broadcast to show live coverage of the event with a national correspondent describing the scene after the first attack. Speculation flowed within the first few days of September 11th, as it was unclear, according to ABC reporter Don Dahler whether it was a plane or possibly even a missile that hit the buildings. The attacks on 9/11 show the growing importance of technology, and television especially, as a source of media and news. Newspapers reported the tragedy with special afternoon editions and front-page headlines the following day, but television was the main informant for the majority of Americans. Parents were watching TV before and during work and many kids still remember watching media coverage of the attacks on 9/11 during school. The terrorist attacks of 9/11 contributed to the essential role that television has for our generation to receive news and displays the impact of receiving news so immediately.
Although learning of the attacks was of course important for American citizens, it also had the potential to incite panic and fuel detrimental beliefs about Muslim or Middle Eastern people. This event had important ethical and moral implications for news media due to the sensitive and complex nature of the issue. American support for the US government and current president George Bush skyrocketed on a short-term level in response to such a blatant attack on US soil. According to Gallup polls conducted in 2002 after the tragedy, approval ratings for Bush increased from 57% to 87%. The response of the Bush administration to 9/11 is even now a subject of discussion as the “war on terror” continues. The media story of the attacks on September 11th served an important role in American politics through providing Bush’s presidency a temporary rise in approval and precipitating a change in American opinions on US foreign policy.
Following September 11th, some Americans chose to point out the flaws of the US government and the potential implications for military response. Others went radically in the opposite direction and called for large scale attacks on the Middle East and the countries suspected of harboring terrorists. Politicians, even today, call upon the events of 9/11 in order to evoke emotional connection and therefore gain support. Even popular comedy shows like Family Guy and Saturday Night Live have made light of the situation with pokes at American inadequacies and the ability of the attacks of 9/11 to incite blind patriotism. Blogger Andrew Sullivan writes in his article “Why I Blog”, “my readers and I experienced 9/11 together, in real time. I can look back and see not just how I responded to the event, but how I responded to it at 3:47 that afternoon. And at 9:46 that night. There is a vividness to this immediacy that cannot be rivaled by print. (Sullivan 2008)” Sullivan discusses the importance of an immediate media reaction and the interaction between the audience and media.
Each of these different perspectives was featured and promoted on talk shows, nightly news, blogs and other media sources. The attacks on 9/11 were portrayed by the American media in a variety of lights and persist as an important issue that can be twisted and used unethically. This unique and tragic event was given the potential to be seen in multiple lights by the media and continues to be a source of unity or division and controversy for the American people.
The terrorist attacks of 9/11 had an immediate impact worldwide as airports in the US immediately closed and the US stock market closed on September 12th. These important US institutions affected the international economy and stalled travel throughout the globe. The European stock markets observed a minute of silence in honor of the victims of 9/11. It was also, of course, the first event in the continuing involvement in the Middle East, which has become a major source of controversy, both for American citizens and from an international perspective. 9/11 caused a dramatic increase in airport security in the United States, complicating international travel, and also changed policies regarding foreign intervention. These literal changes to American views on the international community prompted changes in foreign policy and in international opinion on the United States, which will likely persist for future generations.
September 11th impacted foreign views of American policy with sympathy for the victims on one hand and on the other hesitation and suspicion about the response of the US government. International reactions to the “war on terror” and the impact on general opinions of Americans are among the main consequences of the attacks on 9/11. In Tomasz Pludowski’s study of the international media reactions to 9/11 he says “the Guardian and the Irish Times framed British culture as superior to American, and with the Times, posited that a new ideology involving an international alliance of world powers, including the Saudis, might be one of the consequences of the tragedy. (Pludowski 2007)” Predictions ranged from sentiments like this to dire condemnations of American foreign intervention to support for the US government’s decision to invade the Middle East. In this instance, 9/11 can be seen as a media event that shaped international opinions on the United States and was interpreted in a variety of lights by the international media.
The attacks on 9/11 also impacted the realm of media that concerns entertainment. Just as during the Cold War and Vietnam War popular movies portrayed Soviet and Vietnamese villains in movies, the American media has targeted radical terrorists as the new “bad guy” in movies. TV shows like NCIS and Hawaii 5-0 show bearded terrorists countering the heroic American law enforcers and even portrays the possibility of nuclear attack. I think that the media has played on the fears of Americans in some ways and that it promotes stereotyping the enemy into one image of a bearded Middle Eastern man strapping a bomb onto his chest. Negative reactions to the war on terror are also seen in songs like Green Day’s “American Idiot” and are reminiscent of anti-war protests during the Vietnam War in which celebrities became vocal against American foreign involvement. September 11th and the war on terror also parallel the Vietnam War in the involvement of the media that causes ordinary citizens to have intimate knowledge, often in the form of photos and videos, of the American military’s actions.
However, the American media has also promoted patriotic images of firemen, police officers, and other government workers to a status that was previously less acknowledged. The media has seized on the opportunity that 9/11 presents to call upon patriotic images and situations. The United States experienced a certain immediate response to the terrorist attacks that increased the use of patriotic images and sentiments. Joshua Terry writes in his article “The Impact of 9/11 on Popular Media” that shows like 24, which focus on the hyper-masculine and patriotic character Jack Bauer and his fight against terrorism, would not be nearly as popular if not for 9/11. In addition many documentaries and movies, like Flight 93, World Trade Center, and 911, have been created post-9/11 in order to capitalize on patriotic sentiments. The American media focused on the rise in patriotism to promote images of hardworking officials and foster reflection on the impact of the attacks.
I believe that 9/11 was one of the most important events of my generation and remember seeing the news broadcasts and media reactions from the perspective of a third-grader. The attacks of September 11th left a stamp in my memory and I can still recall waking up to see my parents watching the news coverage on TV. I remember feeling confused and scared that something like this could happen in a country that I had always thought of as the most free and safe. 9/11 reminded our country that we were vulnerable and forced us all to consider our role as a hegemonic power in the world. I think that 9/11 had an unimaginable impact on modern media and that it brought to light, the connection between counties and impact Americans have on global issues. The story of 9/11 has evolved in many ways to effect things like entertainment preferences to international opinions on the United States to foreign involvement in the Middle East. In these ways, I think that this story provoked thought and argument in relation to security and international interactions. In the decade following the terrorist attacks of September 11th, the events of that day have had a profound impacts on politics and international relations but also promoted the media as a conductor for positive and negative opinions on US foreign involvement and general American attitudes on their role in the world.
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