A Level Media Studies

September 11th 2001

A co-ordinated series of attacks on the USA by al-Qaeda.

Hijackers crashed planes into the twin towers at the World Trade Centre, the Pentagon and Pennsylvania.

3,000 victims The US responded by launching the

‘war against terror’ and invading Afghanistan.

The News

• The footage of the second plane crash was seen live by millions.

• These images have become the most documented and watched event in TV history.

• Impact of new technology.• At the time news reporting was selective –

focused on the powerless victims of the Twin Towers.

• This emphasised the illegitimacy of the violence.• References to the Pentagon and Pennsylvania

crash sites were often marginalised.

Realism

• Amateur nature of footage gave it VALIDITY and CREDIBILITY.

• The shaky hand held images taken by the public affirmed the reality of the disaster.

• The realism of the event was seen through the prism of disaster movies previously watched.

• Initially it was felt that audiences would no longer be able to derive pleasure from these in the future.

• Schwarzenegger’s Collateral Damage was withdrawn from release.

After 9/11

• Representations of violence in both fictional and news texts have changed.

• Representations of New York were also altered.

• Friends (TV) and Spiderman (film) removed images of the twin towers from the New York skyline.

• New York started to be represented in a more complex and less upbeat way.

• The Day After Tomorrow (2004) • 24 – series (2001- ) Shift in focus on threat

from terrorism rather than threat from crime.

War Against Terrorism

After 9/11 journalists and politicians represented the Western world as involved in a ‘war against terrorism’.

This representation has been used as a justification for invasions into Afghanistan and Iraq.

Increased security measures at airports/borders.

War Against Terror

• REFLECTIVE• Focus on the

selectivity of representations of 9/11,

• The ‘war on terror’ and

• Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq

• CONSTRUCTIONIST• The ‘war on terror’ is

a product of media representations, constructed through media language and political discourse circulated in the media.

• Such a perspective suggests a heavy involvement and culpability of the media in politics.

New media impact

New media can offer new outlets for divergent views in contemporary society.

Satellite channels – Al Jazeera

Websites – the Baghdad Blogger, LiveLeak