9/11: A Failure to Address "Why?"



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The failure of the American news media to report on the motives of al-Qaeda (the “Why?” of the 5 W’s) held far less potential causes than it did actual effects on both the perspective given to the United States citizens towards both the American government, as well as what has or has not been justifiable in the past ten years since the occurrence of 9/11.

 

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The lack of genuine journalistic coverage in the immediate reports following the attack on The World Trade Center may be somewhat elucidated through the simple fact that it is within our own human nature to focus immediate attention on the empathetic feelings and emotions that naturally tie into such a disheartening and brutal occurrence. As Streitmatter explains in his chapter on 9/11, “…there were so many important dimensions to this gigantic story—the scope of human loss, the intelligence failures, questions about the economic and political implications of the attacks…-- that perhaps news organizations should be excused for not making the motivations of the terrorists a top priority.” (Streitmatter 249)

Personally, I think to say that the first 4 W’s were simply “overwhelming” to the American news media is extremely ignorant; excusing the main job of holding an occupation as a journalist; to report factual truths to American media consumers and to the general public that will allow them to lead free and self-governing lives.

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The more sensible and probable “explanation” for “Why’s?” lack-in-coverage is that major news organizations did not want to report news that would be “…interpreted as both unpatriotic and an effort to justify the attacks.” (Streitmatter 248) Unwilling to seem as though they were rationalizing or excusing the tragedies of 9/11, the majority of news companies simply regurgitated the information and feelings towards the attacks mirroring President George W. Bush’s explanation that 9/11 was an event that resulted, “because terrorists are bad and America is good.” (Streitmatter 244) George W. Bush also addressed the entire world in saying, “…either you are with us or you are with the terrorists.” (Streitmatter 245) This wave of separation-driven vibes of the U.S. versus all other countries who are associated with acts of terrorism further embodies the ideals of a “self-proclaimed superpower” that we as a country prove to be. It is this self-assertive and frankly arrogant attitude that lead to the “Why?” in the tragedy of 9/11.



The fact that the American media’s majority chose to steer clear of the terrorist’s motives was the fear that criticism of the U.S. government would lead to confusion and anger in the American people at a time of catastrophe, when a country should stand together as one united nation. When Susan Sontag of The New Yorker published an essay in The Talk of the Town, acknowledging the “Why?” of the 9/11 attacks on The Twin Towers, she was immediately scolded both as a professional and as an individual. “Where is the acknowledgement that this was not a ‘cowardly’ attack on ‘civilization’ or ‘liberty’ or ‘humanity’ or ‘the free world’ but an attack on the world’s self-proclaimed superpower, undertaken as a consequence of specific American alliances and actions?” (Streitmatter 248)

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Sontag received harsh criticism by Peter Carlson of The Washington Post, who in reference to the New Yorker journalist denounced, “Regular people can be dim at times, but it takes a real intellectual to be this stupefyingly dumb.” (Streitmatter 248) Contrastingly, I did not find Sontag’s piece to be “anti-American,” rather an attempt to analyze the true facts, beyond our self-righteous government, of why al-Qaeda would feel justified in the actions that occurred on September 11, 2001. It is drastically ignorant for a large majority of American journalists to simply parrot the feelings of the United States government back to the consumerist public as true facts, ignoring the real elements of “Why?” al-Qaeda felt justified in its actions; in other words, ignoring the true responsibilities of the journalistic world to the American public.

From this, I dare to ask, was it morally ethical for the New York Times to accept a record-breaking seven awards for its coverage of 9/11? Or was the "top news coverage" just regurgitating back the same broken-record-information to what seems to be a forever-war-hungry nation?



Disclaimer: All previous links serve simply as suggested definitions and background information.

Chapter 5: "The Newspapers Control the Nation"

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Yes, it is extremely prevelant that in modern-day society, the American news media continually influences the society in which it inhabits; specifically its people. We have all heard of, and more than likely personally experienced cases on a wide spectrum in severity in which either we or individuals in our society have been influenced by the media. This influence, particularly in American news media, has the tendency to have negative connotations, due to the extreme pressure placed upon individuals by the news media to achieve the American standard of beauty through a large focus on celebrity-coverage.

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These issues, although affecting the esteem of thousands of individuals around the world, seem utterly insignificant when they are held up against the journalistic events beginning in 1895, leading to The Spanish-American War. As discussed by Rodger Streitmatter in his book, Mightier Than the Sword, the media that instigated The Spanish-American War was spearheaded by William Randolph Hearst, who was closely shadowed in immoral and falsified journalism by Joseph Pulitzer, in their respective publications The New York Journal and The New York World. The idea of "yellow journalism" was born, and was identified as a brazenly immodest cartoon, "The Yellow Kid."

Publishing half-truths to gain the attention of conflict-thirsty readers, yellow journalism was one of the largest influences a media has ever proven to have had on its society. Perhaps the most significant event and coverage which led to warfare was the explosion of the U.S.S. Maine, which while anchored to oversee Cuba was blown up, killing hundreds of American soldiers. Pointing the blame on the Spanish government, pro-war headlines were to follow the explosion, and eventually the newspapers literally swayed the public into overpowering then-President McKinley's anti-war stance. In reality, the explosion is attributed by many experts to have been an accident aboard the ship, and some fingers even pointing at Hearst himself.

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Below is the illustration originally printed in the New York Journal by Frederic Remington of Spanish officers forcing a gang-like strip search on a young Cuban woman. Portraying this occurrence in such a light was purely propaganda, fueling American citizens to support what would soon become war with the Spanish. In reality, the women of this ship had been searched by a female officer in a private room. This is just a small example of falsified publication in the age of yellow journalism.

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Literally waging a war, it is no wonder Yellow Journalism is referred to as “journalism without a soul.” Hearst became so wealthy off of the soul-less publications, that he was able to afford paying $3,000 per month for reporters and photographers to get first-hand stories, versus the usual $120. One journalist reported back to Hearst, “Everything is quiet… there will be no war…” In response, Hearst allegedly stated, “You furnish the pictures and I’ll furnish the war.” (Streitmatter 75)

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When Hearst fooled Pulitzer and his paper into publishing a completely false story about “Col. Ordonez’s death” just to prove Pulitzer was plagiarizing information, Hearst actually won the trust of the consumers over Pulitzer. In reality, if any newspaper, no matter how credible to begin with, were to publish falsified information just to decrease the circulation of its competitor, that newspaper would be brought to naught, with its entire credibility ruined. It is just one of the responsibilities of any journalist to serve its consumers with the most accurate information; although it is at the end of the day a business, publishing adulterated “news” for the profit of a company is simply unethical.

As an aspiring young American journalist, I find the fact that two extremely successful journalists of the 1800’s were so wrongly influential on their society to be astounding. Although the motive behind these events, the “all-mighty dollar” holds to be the same today, I don’t believe that something to this extent would ever happen again. Although the public has the freedom to choose which information to believe, tabloids and other such publications should be considered more as a source of entertainment than news; as consumers we must be “media literate,” deciding which sources are credible within our heads, and therefore deciding which information we choose to believe. 

Chapter 4: Boss Tweed's Exploitation

While reading Mightier Than the Sword, being a person of impatience, I skipped anxiously to the fourth chapter.  The section, starting off slow, as admittedly I have not found the chance to read most recently, soon picked up speed as the events and their significance sank in. To summarize, in the 1860s and early 1870s, “The Tweed Ring” owned, and therefore essentially managed the city of New York. Lead by William Marcy Tweed, the Ring managed to swindle from the city’s tax payers somewhere around $200 million dollars.

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Streitmatter broke down the events into a very simple, easy-to-follow format; first explaining the issues associated with Tweed and his “band of political henchmen,” and then continuing onto his introduction of Thomas Nast. Derived from Germany, Nast at a young age moved to the United States, and was soon to become one of the most renowned and impressive political cartoonists in American history.

Through his work at Harper’s Weekly, Nast managed to exploit not only Tweed, but certain members of Tammany Hall. Over the years, through his accusations, Nast continued depicting them as covetous criminals, and was able to bring the large amounts of frauds attention to the tax-paying public. Meanwhile, Nast was being offered compensation, even threatened for his silence; however Harper’s continued to expose Tweed and his gang.

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This perseverance and dedication to reporting real news to the public with refusal to be paid-off was quite honorable, as many other publications had vowed to be quiet for they were being paid to do so. Eventually, the New York Times took hold of the concept Nast had been standing by, eventually published a large sum of documents, advertising Tweed’s disloyalty to his state. It was at that point that the news went national, and probably one of the largest defining moments for the Times as far as establishment goes.

At the end of the day, it is Thomas Nast who stood by his beliefs from day one, never backing down, for he knew it was of the nature of the Fourth Estate to stand tall. His cartoons were not only worth a thousand words, they were easily accessible to a much wider range of the public, no matter social standing or lingual background. It is their availability that made the drawings and statements of Nast such a large contribution to the media’s history.

Educate Yourself Further With This YouTube Link

Mightier Than the Sword: An Introduction

Roger Streitmatter, author of Mightier Than the Sword, vividly summarized his text which investigates  how the news media throughout history has shaped America as a nation and as a democracy. The author explains how throughout the next chapters of his book, he plans to explain in detail how fifteen seperate past events, some decades ago, and some just a few years short of today, have built up the democratic society in which we live today through coverage, or lack of coverage in the media. His book was not created to serve as a historical fact-based textbook, but rather an engaging text that uses history only as its supporting details, as opposed to the back-bone of his words. Experienced as a journalist as well as a professor, paired with a Ph.D. in U.S. History, it is no doubt that Streitmatter is more than qualified in his work, and his text is something I look forward to exploring.