: 9/11: how politicians and the media turned terrorism into an Islamic issue #IndiaNEWS #Internation-left Sheffield, Sept 13: As we mark the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, it is important

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9/11: how politicians and the media turned terrorism into an Islamic issue #IndiaNEWS #Internation -left
Sheffield, Sept 13: As we mark the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, it is important to reflect on the legacy that event – and the “war on terror� more broadly – has had for the way news media cover terrorism. Though we should be clear that terrorism as we define it now predates the attacks by well over a century, what is significant about the events of 9/11 is the way they turned terrorism into a near-constant feature of the daily news cycle.
Scholars have long-argued that there is a symbiotic relationship between the news media and terrorism. For journalists, terrorist violence fulfils core news values that help attract and secure large audiences. For terrorists, news coverage provides a sense of legitimacy and the oxygen of publicity vital to their cause. No event illustrates this relationship more than 9/11.
Timed to coincide with morning news schedules across America, the attacks on the World Trade Center factored in a 17-minute delay between the two aircraft hitting the buildings to help maximise drama and ensure that network camera crews had time to focus on events. In some cases, news networks reported non-stop for nearly 100 hours to millions around the world.
In interviews for my book on the BBCs portrayal of the al-Qaida threat during this time, one journalist recalls how monumental that day was: Its hard to emphasise now the way it made the world stop. And it did that in a way that hardly any other event had ever done before in my lifetime. It was staggering … watching the horror of what had happened, the number of people killed, and then watching the collapse of those iconic towers.
In the years since, the number of newspaper articles featuring the words “terrorism� or “terrorist�, both in the United States and Britain, have increased exponentially. This was despite the fact that terrorist attacks in Europe and North America were much more common during the 1970s and 1980s. These were typically carried out by left- or right-wing nationalist organisations.
Whose views make the news?
Aside from the drama and newsworthiness of the 9/11 attacks, a major reason why terrorism dominated headlines was because politicians and other “elite� figures began talking about terrorism. A lot.
Political communications scholarship has long noted the influence of powerful sources over the news agenda. Yet studies reveal how, in the days, weeks and months after 9/11, politicians and security sources (often anonymous and unnamed) dominated the news of the terror threat during this period and helped encourage an atmosphere of patriotic fervour. It has also been claimed that politicians adopt more emotive language when talking about terror threats, further increasing the news value of such information.

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