Being an American, I will not approach this topic with the standard facts and commentary, but more so with my own authentic voice. The topic of 9/11’s impact on the media is probably one of the more relevant ones today, and looking back there is definitely a visible transformation of media from the day of those attacks and throughout the 10 years since. I read Yahoo! News every day and the headlines are constantly dominated by violent stories usually taking place in the Middle East. Stories in the European section of Yahoo! are predominantly economically or even athletically concerned, whereas the Middle East section is littered with war stories. The War On Terror, the ultimate response to the 9/11 attacks, has since made foreign policy (particularly regarding the Middle East) the center of the news. This takes away from stories on crime and drugs, which I find appalling because local conflicts like these are as much if not more important for any community to hear about.
Yahoo! News – Europe vs. Yahoo! News – Middle East
A sub-topic that is very new to me is the impact on photojournalism. While I think it would be unfair to attribute the rise of photojournalism entirely to 9/11, I definitely think it got a huge boost from it. From the events themselves to even today, photojournalism based around the event is huge. Even now more and more videos are coming out on YouTube showing civilians getting footage of the World Trade Center in New York that major news networks were not able to show. It just proves that anyone really can be a journalist, and if you want to be a photojournalist all you need is the crummy little camera on your cell phone. This type of accessibility was completely under the radar before September 11th, 2011, so that is certainly something to consider.
Alternative Footage From an Apartment Building
Also, in terms of war bloggers (who really just seem very simply to me as bloggers who happen to talk about war), I think their work is crucially important. Baghdad Burning is a strong example of that. I also just find it mind-boggling how many blogs there are today compared to a decade ago (under 100 blogs in 1999 versus 50 million in 2006).
Another topic that needs be considered, particularly because it is a topic that bothers me is the connection between post-9/11 journalism and 9/11 conspiracy theories. Since the attacks, scores of people have come out with “evidence” regarding the mysterious ways parts of the World Trade Center fell, the US government’s involvement in the attacks, Mossad’s involvement, and even go as far as to say that 9/11 is part of a greater agenda calling for a New World Order (which gets mixed up in theories regarding the Illuminati and Free Masons). YouTube and Facebook are definitely key locations of 9/11 conspiracy theories and “journalism”.
Canadians on 9/11 Conspiracy Theories
One of the larger 9/11 Conspiracy Facebook groups
Article on 9/11 Truthers Today
Respectfully,
Martin Stillman