This clearly shows that influence and money are the only thing cared by the institutions like CNN. Being that America is the richest and influencing country in the world, it is not a surprise that the event was significant.
The image of Bin Laden posted on television screens combined with repeated images of the plane crashing into the second tower and commentators’ discussions of “horror”, “terrorism”, “disaster” and “unimaginable” changed the way mass audiences think. One of the ways the media forces audiences to show grief and anger is by clever camerawork.
When the first hijacked plane crashed into one of the twin tower, the camera often tracked the ruined building in a circular motion. This is an appealing way to show the audience how much damage has been caused by the hijackers and in essence makes the audience angrier. POV (point of view) shots were used frequently because it gets the audience involved. Its almost as if they were there, moving around the building. The camera becomes their eyes. So the footage not only will make the audience show sympathy to the people dying but will also make the audience show empathy because the camera makes the audience imagine themselves in the awful situation.
Although the event shouldn’t be as important as it is, it is true that the loved ones of those who died would have been grief stricken; when they heard their loved ones are dead. This is why the camera operators didn’t use close-ups when people were falling off the ‘over 100 floor’ buildings. Showing live, devastating images of someone who you know falling off a huge building is very insensitive. Also, the camera operators are being ethical because showing innocent people dying in such manner is not the right thing to do, even if it isn’t a close-up. At the end of the day, this is reality and not some action film.
At the time when people saw the terrible incident, many people especially the West thought that it is a sign of a new terror and this became a moral panic for the West. Usama Bin Laden soon became the world’s most wanted man.
Everyday it is expected of the news team to discuss about the world’s “worst” tragedy and how the “master brain” was able to plan an attack on the most powerful country in the word. In fact, mainly in Britain and America, a person who doesn’t know Usama Bin Laden was found rather abnormal. Such reasons are to why moral panic (a dramatic and rapid over reaction to forms of deviants or wrong doings believed to be a direct threat to a society) was brought up in the western world. They believed if America was attacked so easily, there is no real hard work needed by the enemies to attack some other country.
However, countries in the middle east, like Palestine were commemorating the fact that America, the strongest and the fiercest country in the world have had a downfall. This clearly shows that a change in geographical area has a change in the attitude towards the event. Palestinians active in the media perceive Americans as a strong ally of Israel and that they help to fight Palestine, so there is no surprise in why they were overjoyed when they heard the tragic news.
People of different ethnicities will have similar reactions depending on their relationships with America. However, the shocking scenes of people dieing in such a manner the camera presented will devastate anyone, even without them realising. However, the patriots of America tend to be mostly White Americans and they are the ones who respond to these events aggressively through protests, etc.
Men and women have fairly equal responses to events like the 9/11. But, we can argue that men are less emotional than women and it is easier for them to forget one thing and get on with their daily basis. This is mostly seen through tragedies like death. It is the men who overcome the sad news first and try to calm the women.
Different age groups have an effect on the reactions towards the 9/11 incident. For instance, the event wouldn’t have the same impact on a teenager as it would on an elderly person. Teenagers would buy fancy trainers, listen to cool music, and lead their normal life as they did before the war, even after seeing devastating images of people dieing. So, have they changed from watching these tragic events? Or has the incident caused no great impact on their lifestyles? On the other hand, a senior citizen would be shocked at the scary images; bearing in mind they had many frightful experiences like the World War II. They know how heartbreaking the event is and surely know the value of life.
In all the productions of the 9/11 incidents, the representations are well balanced. When the camera showed people running for their lives when the plane crashed, it presented men, women, black, white, disabled and many people belonging to different categories. Although there is a question of whether this is coincidental or intended. When a camera is broadcasting people running around going haywire, it is hard to get a mixture of people from different categories and it is almost impossible to be intentional. So we can say that it may be a coincidence, and yet in order to grab peoples’ attentions, these are vital.
Many people were interviewed to get their personal experiences on the attack. Men and women were interviewed at a similar proportion, however, regarding ethnicity, it was not as outstanding as it should have been.
Not very much Black or Asians were interviewed. This emphasises the dominance of White people in America and that because more White people are there means more of them should be interviewed, almost like statistics (sampling).
The images from the media have shown Americas plight during and after the terrorist hijackings. The medias response has been one of total support for America. They have shown a biased representation of the attacks, but as westernised newspapers read by many Americans and supporters of America this is to be expected. Although, the media have shown contrasting images of the aftermath of the attack, Palestinians celebrating in the streets alongside pictures of Yasa Arafat giving blood, this is a good representation by the media of one countries completely different reaction to the attacks. All of the images of the World Trade Centre Attacks and also the limited pictures of the Pentagon and Pennsylvania attack show Americans grief of the victims, but their determination to rise against terrorism and to remain the most powerful nation in the world.
Since, the event was so well known, hooliganism played some part. For instance, there are many games on the Internet like Bombaladen, which were simply used to have a good laugh. This not only offends the people who are suspected but also the public. Because the games are there to make fun of the event, and the innocent lives are simply being devalued. People will start to remember these events as a kiss start for humorous games. However, the idea of satire is used in other parts of media. They use fun and humour to raise an important and serious issue. An example is the Plane Crasher, a computer game that shows how people crash into buildings in a humorous way. But then goes on to show how their lives are wasted.
Since the attack was ongoing for the past 6 or more months, many people were introduced to studios of institutions like BBC, to be interviewed. In these most of them were White men, usually over 50 and able. This is ideal to all human beings on Earth, when talking about intelligence and victorious, according to the media. This however is very inequitable because more than three quarters of the world population are Asian and Black, more than half the world population are women and more than half the world population are people less than 50 years old. And yet, these people don’t acquire the intelligence the media is looking for. Regardless of the production, the representation of Islamic Middle Eastern men placed them firmly in the character of suspects. In America, it is a prolong mission for a person with the name Mohammed or a person with a similar appearance to the killer to get a job, even if they acquire the required qualifications. They are simply treated differently to others raising an issue of racism. This is because most Americans put prejudice into practice and treat these suspecting people less favourably because of having similar race, gender, religion or culture to the killer. Surely, moral panic in the Western people cannot be resolved by suspecting everyone who is from the same background as the killer.
When Hitler killed 6 million Jews and 2 million others, including disabled people, gay people, political activists, scientists and intellectuals, no one suspected any other Germans to do the same thing, after all Hitler performed the “devil’s work”. So there is no reason why Middle Eastern men should be suspected for a killing of only 6,000 or so people. However, there can be arguments that modernization of the world means life is very precious and everyone has the right to live. Media approves this because every time a person is murdered, the media, often through news informs the audience and even requests them to help catch the murderer.
As the incident became more widespread, the shocking scenario was made into special documentaries like Panorama. The documentaries were edited with depressing voices of the people, who were involved in the incident, including the firemen. Heartbreaking music was also used as part of the editing process, all to the one reason of wanting to change the mass audiences’ attitudes towards the event. This may have been the source to change George W Bush’s (president) views on the Middle East. Whether it was true or not, the president responded to the attack by going to war with Afghanistan. The media supported all the way through by showing updates and live coverage on the war.