Coverage of the September 11th Events in the Media

For a long time, the media has been perceived as a skewed reflection of culture. The metaphor functions in two respects. On the one side, assuming that the mirror provides evidence that is perceived by the majority of the social world, there is concern over misrepresentations that perpetuate bias among all people. If, on the other hand, bias is prevalent among the public and journalists, the misunderstanding is more likely to be propagated through the media (Entman 12). The media has been seen as a reference source as well as a way of delivering and covering events all around the globe. The way the media presents information sometimes negatively influences viewers thus impacting the overall outcome of an event. This paper will look at the various ways the media influenced the outcome of the 9/11 attacks, the impact it had on people’s understanding, and how often news are stereotyped through the media.
Influence of the Media on the Outcome of the Event
The media forms a primary influence on how people perceive various topics and issues surrounding them. Various sources prove that the media affects how one reacts even after watching news or commentaries on some specific topic. An individual’s perspective on terrorism and terrorists can be traced back to the news they watched or heard wither online, through television, radio, or, newspapers. Henry Jenkins in A Systematic Approach to Media Education argues that today news coverage spread fast due to existence of social media where people report and share news (391). Since the events of 9/11, the word terrorism evokes specific emotions and reactions towards specific groups of people (Hawthorne 2). According to Hawthorne (1), people tend to overreact when they think or hear o terrorism by assuming or believing that it causes it causes more death than war. Instead it should be thought as a small-scale war. The media tends to classify any aggression acts against a country or its allies as terrorism, thus causing fear and humiliation that drives people to want to fight against it.
According to Nagar (534), terrorists and media run consecutively as each is in need of the other. Terrorists require the media to spread fear and take accountability for their actions. The media requires fast selling news to broadcast to its viewers. In fact, in today’s world most of what makes the news is negative happenings that are aired for long periods. Before the happenings of 9/11, the media only used the word ‘terrorism’ to refer to certain acts of violence mainly political, for example extremists in the left wing. Nagar (535) also notes that an act is referred to as more terroristic if it involves an American. There is also the tendency to associate Islam with terrorism due to the 9/11 perpetrators. Before the events, the media mainly used the words guerillas, rebels, and revolutionaries to refer to similar acts performed by terrorists today.
Nacos (437) notes that in the United States, the media is known to report on who committed the acts, where it happened and how rather than analyzing on why it happened. This has influenced most Americans to focus on the question of what happened and ignore the motives the actions. People generally do not take the time to question why things happen and all they want is to identify the people who did cause the events. According to Boaz (337), this is the primary reason that media news keep selling, war sells. The United States government and media always ensures there is constant flow of information, and this sale from the media influences the perceptions people have regarding terrorism and similar events. Unfortunately, most of the perceptions presented by the media are negative and ends up jeopardizing the position of certain groups in society.
The media, after the events of 9/11, influenced Americans perceptions of Muslims in various ways. The first method was through selective process. The media always has the power and ability to evaluate and determine the issues that are important and the information to provide to its consumers. In the period after the bombing of the World Trade Centre, the media began analyzing Islamic religion because the perpetrators had been mentioned as Muslims. This caused panic amongst people living and working with Muslims as they had been branded by the media as capable of committing suicide in the name of religion and holding close brotherhood ties with other Muslims (Hawthorne 54). The second method was through priming where the media influences what its viewers, listeners, and readers think about. This was mainly achieved through image utilizations and message repetition. The images displayed and delivered through television, print media and social media all influenced the perspectives of Americans towards the event itself and Muslims in general. Agenda setting was the third means through which the media influenced the perspectives of its viewers after the September 11 attacks. Through analysis and settings of the various agendas of the period, the media influenced the ways through which problems were identified at the time and which were considered important (Hawthorne 60) . The media being a primary source of information for large masses it influences what the viewers consider important.
Impact of Media on People’s Understanding of the 9/11 Events
The dramatic events of 11th September 2001 thrust the Islam religion onto worldwide spotlight as the media and people tried to understand the causal factors of the attacks. Many Americans had not given much thought to Islam faith before, and now everyone wanted to figure out how the religion and its followers why it had affected them with such huge magnitude. The media played an important role in giving people information regarding the religion and this caused a lot of negative impact on how people viewed Islam and the relations held before were definitely changed.
Duyvesteyn (112), presents some surprising analysis on how the media started impacting people perspective after the 9/11 events. This analysis indicates that the animosity that was resulted towards Muslims was not mainly driven by the fear of terrorism but by the influence and information that was portrayed by the media afterwards. Immediately after the events, the public and the Americans citizens had positive or favorable sentiments towards Muslims living in America. Despite the fears that were looming at the time, Americans did not respond with prejudice rather they sympathized with the Muslims who were defamed after the actions of the extremists. It was only after fears had subsided that people started to analyze the Islam religion and portray its elements negatively. The question, therefore, is what happened and what caused the latter outcome?
The answer it seems lies with the media and how they framed and handled the events later. Immediately after the events the media’s primary focus was on criticizing and documenting violent actions of Muslim Civil Liberties. Since fear leads to prejudice, the media continued to instill fear of Muslims in the mind of Americans and finally Muslims started experiencing animosity and negativity from the Americans (Nagar 34). With more people showing interest in Islamic religion after the attacks, it was clear that it would also change how Muslims were viewed not only in the United States but also around the world.
The media reported on researches conducted on the psychology of Muslims and how it affected behaviors of Muslims in America prompting them to conduct atrocities for revenge. After the attacks the media paid more attention to the Muslims than ever before. In addition, due to the news portrayed in the media, legislators were forced by the people to enact bills that targeted Muslims immigrants in the country. Arab Americans who lived in the New York city experienced racist attacks and abuses while others underwent incidents that were fuelled by hatred. A study performed by New York Muslim Publishers indicated that a large percentage of Muslims experienced verbal attacks, discriminations in the workplace, unprovoked and harsh police interrogations, as well as physical abuses (Entman 32)
Media representations of the Islamic faith and Muslims led to increase in the number of Muslims who were psychologically affected as well as influences in the government response towards Muslims. The media created some kind of paranoia in the society that was fuelled by fear creation and the nee top sell their information. Some information that would save innocent Muslims was never published in the media, for example, the secret holding cells where Muslims were confined by the government. One of the major events covered by all media outlets was the formation of the International Burn a Quran Day, led by pastor Joneson. The event was widely covered and even the pastor got an interview with CNN. However, there were rare chances where Muslims were offered interviews to air their feelings and opinions on the issue.
How Often The News Coverage Stereotypes An Event.
The media has the ability to stereotype and event for long periods of time, for example the killing of J.F Kennedy and the 9/11 bombing attacks. The rationale behind this is because the news spread through the media can be stored for future readings and referencing. Buckingham (392) argues that based on the forms of media used, news coverage can stereotype and event for a lifetime.
The terrorists’ attacks against the World Trade Centre were the tipping points of how Muslims would be stereotyped afterwards. Before the events, Muslims were not perceived as posing a threat to society and neither was the Islam religion under scrutiny. However, after the attacks, the way the media portrayed Islam led to a lot of questionings and investigations on the beliefs, traditions, and practices of the Muslim people (Nagar 56). The solo nature of focus on Islam when it came to issues such as crime and security impacted a negative image of Muslims. The fear that emanated from the word terrorism was directly referenced to Muslims and Islam religion. This caused a wave of negativity and stereotyping that was directed to Muslims.
Today, it has been more than a decade since the occurrences of the 9/11 attacks, yet people are still battling with the idea of terrorism and Islam. Many theories have been coined as to the nature of the religion and how it might influence terrorist attacks. Innocent Muslims around the world face prejudice and misconceptions from their neighbors due to the way Islam was first portrayed in the events. This has caused divisions in society where Muslims too feel the need to protect their beliefs and shield against negative pressures of society. According to Wilson, Wilson, and Dilulio (2001), media biasness and stereotype can also emanate from an editor or reporter who allow their personal opinions, views, and beliefs to influence the perspective of the story they deliver to the public. While the media is responsible for what they report, they must take into consideration how and where the report is made. This is because when collecting the news, reporters are likely to interpret and deliver according to how they personally view the events or what they believe to be true. This misconception influences the receiver and they believe the misinterpretation presented. Media creation of stereotypes is very evident in the depiction of Islamic religion and Muslims in general. This is despite the fact that other players outside the religion have also been known to cause terrorist attacks around the world. However, the media still looks for means of connecting them back to the Islamic religion.


References
Buckingham, David. Media Education: Literacy, Learning and Contemporary Culture.Hoboken, NJ:John Wiley & Sons, 2013.
Duyvesteyn, Isabelle. "How new is the new terrorism?." Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 27.5 (2004): 439-454.
Entman, Robert M. "Framing bias: Media in the distribution of power." Journal of communication 57.1 (2007): 163-173.
Hawthorne, Susan. "How Terrorism Is Wrong: Morality and Political Violence. By VIRGINIA HELD." Hypatia 27.1 (2012): 219-222.9
Jenkins, Philip. Images of terror: What we can and can't know about terrorism. Transaction Publishers, 2003.
Nagar, Na'ama. "Who is afraid of the t-word? Labeling terror in the media coverage of political violence before and after 9/11." Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 33.6 (2010): 533-547.
Nacos, B. L. (2005). The portrayal of female terrorists in the media: Similar framing patterns in the news coverage of women in politics and in terrorism. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 28(5), 435-451.
Wilson, J. Q., J. John, and J. Dilulio. "The Media." American Government (2001).

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