CMAT

1. Media Coverage of 9/11
and the Iraq War
Liz Desmond, Lindsay Siebert, and Samantha Derosa

2. A Montage of the Tragedy
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HcX3iffQcI

3. The Early Hours
 What is a paradigm?
 Specific way of reporting an incident involving large-scale destruction
 Human error/accident or natural disasters
 What was the dominant paradigm in the 9/11 coverage?
 Started as accident
 Ended as deliberate attack

4. Paradigms- Angles of 9/11 Coverage

6. What is a scalar expression?
 Finding words and patterns for events, especially in
tragedy
 “Attack” and “attacked” were used in over 40% of all headlines
 “Terror” and “terrorist acts” were used in 30% of all headlines
 The other words used in headlines were disaster, horror, chaos, infamy, and
devastation
 Over 1/3 of all headlines the day of 9/11 included “America or US
attacked”, “attack on America”, or America under attack”

7. CNN at an early stage began to display a caption
in its coverage, “America Under Attack”
“Do not say what you know to be untrue; and, more particularly, do not put
into public domain something which might prove to be drastically wrong.”
“Getting it right.”
Do you feel that the media used phrases like “America under attack” too soon?
If so, why?

8. Where were those who needed to address the
media?
 President Bush – in an elementary school, addressed the media briefly at
the time
 Vice President Cheney- was immediately sent to a White House bunker
 Secretary of State Powell was flying back from South America – unavailable

9. How do political leaders affect the media in times
of disaster?

10. The media portrayed the US as taken by
surprise. What in the media made us think that
this was a surprise and did we have any prior
knowledge?

11. What was most difficult about covering
9/11 in terms of the media?
http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/news/as-it-happened%3A-abc-news-
coverage-of-9_11-attacks

12. Embedded Journalism
 Refers to journalists being attached to military units during armed conflict
 Term first came to use with the 2003 invasion of Iraq

13. Journalism and the War in Iraq
 More than 500 journalists embedded
 Journalists given special procedures and guidelines
 Required to sign documents complying with the rules set out at the
beginning about what they could or could not report
 Gave smaller, locally based newspapers presence

14. Problems with the Embedding Process
 Started off with a wave of enthusiasm from both military and news
organizations, but it was not long before tensions began to emerge.
 Apprehension about the ability to maintain impartiality
 Embedded journalism gave the public a distorted picture of the war
 Only provides snap shot of the war
 Safety of journalists

15. Journalists in the Iraq War
On April 8, 2003, during the US-led invasion of Iraq,
Al Jazeera correspondent Tareq Ayoub was killed when
a US warplane bombed Al Jazeera's headquarters in Baghdad.
 More journalists were killed during the US-led invasion and occupation of
Iraq than in any war in history.
 Journalists "Should Not Be There"

16. Safety for the Journalists
 The need for safety measures is becoming a major issue in war reporting.
 What came of this? Risk awareness training, social protection(life
insurance), free medical treatment and protection of freelance or part-time
employees.
 Aside from causalities, journalists received threats and experienced
expulsions, detentions and confiscation of equipment.
 http://fair.org/take-action/media-advisories/iraq-and-the-media/
 Knowing what you know about the dangers of reporting in countries
within the Middle East, Africa, and North Korea, etc., would you still have
the courage to go over and fulfill your journalistic duties?

17. Discussion
 According to the article, “Stages of a Crisis and Media Frames and Functions:
U.S. Television Coverage of the 9/11 Incident During the First 24 Hours,” media
outlets had to act on their own understanding of the situation due to the lack of
official sources. Do you think that the media should assume the role of national
leader in times of crisis or wait until official sources can be reached?
 Did the CIA cover up its advance knowledge of at least two of the 9/11
hijackers? - if so, how did this affect media coverage?
 Who was really in charge on the morning of 9/11 - Bush or Cheney?
 What really happened aboard Flight 93?
 Did the media leave too much room for error when first broadcasting the news?

18. References
 http://www.wanttoknow.info/911newsarticles
 http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/news/as-it-happened%3A-abc-news-coverage-
of-9_11-attacks
 http://fair.org/take-action/media-advisories/iraq-and-the-media/