9/11 Journalism Impact

September 11, 2001 has proven to be one of the most horrific and diving days in American history. Taking the lives of thousands, Muslim terrorists wreaked havoc on New York City’s iconic Twin Towers, pushing citizens of the United States and surrounding countries to their limits. People have since recorded personal accounts of the catastrophe, portraying the happenings of the tear-jerking event. A consistent sense of distress and hopelessness are evident in many modern literary pieces concerning the egregious act of terrorism. In his narrative “The Ashen Guy: Lower Broadway, September 11, 2001”, author Thomas Beller establishes a significantly panicked tone through the use of detailed imagery, strong punctuation, and illustrative diction.

The bombing marked the first time an event of such large magnitude was covered by social media outlets, completely unparalleled in comparison to the coverage of 9/11. Never before in the history of media had a national security event been covered in real time, with information being fed into news outlets and Twitter at such rapid speed. People could tweet at one another providing live videos of the bombings, photos, and safety updates. During 9/11, however, many people waited anxiously by their TV and the radio for breaking news that took longer time to process and collect. The Boston Bombings, while extremely tragic, helped to strengthen Boston’s civil society.

Many people questioned the role of the media since the media seemed not to do their job. Instead of using media as a tool to communicate with society and government, the media was used more as a way of scaring. In the article, The ‘Appalling’ Ways The Media Framed the Narrative After Hurricane Katrina written by Rahel Gebreyes and published in Huffington Post Gebreyes points out the lack of language the journalist new about disasters. Luckily natural disasters like this do not happen often so most of the journalists were covering news like this for the first time and maybe their only time in their life. In the article "Race and Media Coverage of Hurricane Katrina: Analysis, Implications, and Future Research Questions."

When destruction strikes many newspapers and try their best to cover it. This paper looks at how local newspapers will cover a story that happening in it’s area compared to how a newspaper with more national coverage will cover the same story. Thus, newspapers with different target audiences will cover the same event in different ways. On March 11, 2011 there was an earthquake just off the coast of Japan that spawned a tsunami that hit many coastal communities in California and beyond.

There have been several occasions I have heard of people who despise some documentary photographs due to their shocking nature. It’s been one of the biggest debates surrounding photography, as to whether we should take photos of disasters and tragedies for the benefit of history and campaigning, or whether it is completely immoral to stand back and watch things happen. One image that relates to this is from 2012 called ‘New York Subway Death’ by a New York Times photographer, an image of a man attempting to climb out from being trapped on the subway tracks seconds before being killed by the train. To many, the photographer had a choice as to save the man or take the photo, in which he chose the photo, however after details arose it was found that he apparently used the flash of the photo to warn the train driver, and that they had to move to a different part of the platform to save themselves from being pushed too by the panhandler, therefore expressing the point that every situation has a background story behind it, so therefore justifying the

I was honored to visit the National September 11 Memorial in New York City on the sunny afternoon of 16 March. Assumptions An initial assumption that I made prior to arriving at the site was that the only participants in this fieldwork were other visitors at the memorial. After getting out of the uber and taking steps backward to take a picture of the new World Trade Center tower, I humbly recognized the real participants at this site were the victims who lost their lives due to the tragic events of 9/11.

Isabel Allende’s short story, “And of Clay Are We Created,” has a similar presentation of humanity compared to Matea Gold and Maggie Farley’s article, “World Trade Center and Pentagon attacked on Sept. 11, 2001.” In both stories humanity is seen to look for answers from the media. For example, in “And of Clay Are We Created,” humanity is seen to cling on to hope when ever Lily was seen on tv. For them, Lily was a symbol of hope that the media explioted. Another example is, in “World Trade Center and Pentagon attacked on Sept. 11, 2001,” when people saw the learned of the attacks, it was through the media.

Photojournalism, to most people, is the main way to visually keep updated and explore what is happening around the world. Compared to written words, a photograph taken on site can contain greater amounts of information and context about the event/subject. The efficiency and  effectiveness of communication is dramatically improved by using photographs. Journalists claim the responsibility to acknowledge and portray reality of wars to the public because it is difficult for bystanders - people other than victims - to grasp the horrors and suffers during such tragic events. However, tragedies like 911 or 2004 Fallujah ambush brings another side of photojournalism that some photos published by several major media seems too realistic and gruesome

“They dramatized the need to check on the safety of fire escapes” (731). This proves that people would be more cautious of their fire escape after looking at these photographs; sometimes, it is acceptable to invade privacy if it will benefit people. With the picture of the dead Syrians, it was vital to photograph images to the public so people can see how sickening the current state of Syria is. Photographs, literally and metaphorically, are more vibrant than sentences. This can get people to take safety measures so similar incidents do not repeat again.

The photojournalist’s role in the earlier days of newspaper journalism was relatively straightforward – capturing a moment in time – a piece of reality. Ready to publish the truth to the public. These images have meanings in the context of a recently published record of events, portraying it’s meaning in its raw form, both in content and tone. (The New York Times, 2015.)

On the bright sunny day of September 11, 2001 in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, I was a 17-year-old young man that was seating in History 1 class in Lawrence County High School. My history teacher walked in to our classroom as the period was about to begin and said, “we are fix to watch history as we speak, so pay attention.” I would have never thought that by watching the tragic events that occurred in New York City against the World Trade Center’s that day, would change the course my life forever. That day as my classmates and I walked the long hallway that entered the cafeteria, I seen a gentleman standing at a small table. The gentleman was very clean cut, slim, with a brown button up blouse on, blue trousers with a red strip going from his brown belt to the bottom of his trousers and had on the shiniest shoes I had ever seen.

In some World Wars they threaten national survivals and therefore reports and photographs are released and published were they intended to create a sense of morale or to just keep the war effort going. For example, “One answer lies in the contemporary acclaim for photography as a truth-telling art”(Marwil,Jonathan). They say that because some photos of the war tells the truth as to what happen and some photos don’t and with photography you will always know the truth. Some reports and photos that are published from these photojournalists need to carry a certain amount of truth to inform the public in different places so people will know the truth instead of the lies. Some argue that reality is a like a videogame, but in this case it is not and people need to know about the war.

People often discuss America’s involvement in foreign affairs as part of an identifier for political opinions, policy, and justice. Hearing an opinion on America’s involvement in foreign affairs, positive or negative, is much less effective in determining where your values lie than experiencing the tragedy and horror second-hand through the lives of the characters. Journalism possesses a beautiful, truly invaluable lack in biases and ability to present facts. Where it lacks is in situations like this, where a certain pathos is needed to connect to the human nature. I recognize sometimes that is not even enough.

In the debate about what is culturally and ethically appropriate to broadcast, there has arguably been great back-last against media events as news. To aide this understanding, there is a need to critically dissect the Media Event in terms of its newsworthiness in the past, present, and future. In this essay, the works of Daniel Dayan and Elihu Katz (1992) and Elihu Katz (1980) will be used to shape an overview of media events, their need and appeal in the media. Stuart Ewen (1996) will be used to shed light on a publicity-driven media, while Daniel Boorstin (1961) will emphasise on the vices of the media event; these will be critically assessed. Finally, in a self-developed case study about the rescue of Chilean miners in 2010, disasters will be discussed as a different form of media event.

Furthermore, it shapes public views through heartbreaking stories that reach millions around the world. A photographer’s passion for capturing the absolute devastation and dedication to tell the world what happened is encouraging enough at the front line. The consequences of being a