During the 9/11 attacks, it was only seconds before everyone in the state of New York was seeing it and hearing about it. It only took minutes for the news to start reporting and maybe only hours before everyone in the United States was watching it on T.V.
The terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 was horrific. It was one of the worst attacks seen and because of this a day was created in memory of the terrorists crashing the planes into the twin towers killing over 3,000 people that day.
Because of the attacks that took place on September 11, 2001 it has changed many things in the United States, today. For example, the media has been changing rapidly. When the 9/11 attacks occurred, the media went viral. People didn’t leave their houses that day. Everyone stayed glued to their T.V’s to find out as much information to what was happening in New York and to find out what was happening.
After the attacks, the media stopped airing the footage they had from 9/11. The footage of the planes crashing into the towers was disturbing viewers, and also too much for people and children to be able to handle over and over again.
Today, because of 9/11, news organizations are re-examining coverage of violent stories. Some news organizations decide that even when videos are available, and it would draw in the public, that the videos are too graphic to show on national television.
Cell phones played a big part in the 9/11 attacks. There were phone calls, messages sent, and even pictures and videos being taken from phones. Because of this, cell phones have adapted and now with the cell phones, news organizations can get the pictures and stories and people wont know whether its actually from the news organization or if it is from the internet and didn’t have regard to privacy or ownership.
After the attacks, people in the media wore American flag pins on their clothes to show their support. At first it was said that it was seen as a sign that American would stand strong. Then, critics were saying that it was only to show support for President George W. Bush. Because of this, the media completely changed something that was respectful and they downplayed it.
Because of 9/11 in the media, fox news channel had been accused of “playing to Americans’ fears” of Muslims. Also, people in the media are being criticized for assuming that all terrorists since the 9/11 attacks are committed by Muslim extremists, and then act surprised when new attacks come along and they aren’t even Muslim.
News stations, when coming across a new story, now need to decide if it is a story worth reporting or if it is just a story for them and Americans to fear and its actually true. For example, if there was a bomb threat, the news wouldn’t be sure if it was real and a bomb was actually coming or if it was just so all Americans would fear, therefore not wanting to report it to scare other Americans that would have been watching the news.
Written by: Arlyn Daniels
http://media.about.com/od/mediatrends/a/How-News-Coverage-Has-Changed-Since-The-9-11-Attacks.htm
Evolution of News Media 