September 2001
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MEDIA ISSUES


Media Coverage of Terrorist Attacks

We have all seen the images, the videos shot from various angles, of a passenger plane crashing into one of the towers of the World Trade Center roughly 20 minutes after a first aircraft had flown into the other. It's impossible to turn on a television set without encountering round-the-clock coverage of the attack and its ramifications.

As it is with every major world event, the media coverage of the event has been both praised and chastised. Some people believe that many rumors were offered as facts or that many analysts have tried to pass their opinion as gospel. Other people believe the media portrayed the incident fairly and accurately, with equal attention being given to the attack and the way people reacted to it.

What are your points of view on this delicate subject? Are there ways that the media could have done things differently? Are there ways you feel it hasn't been praised enough for doing certain things? Do you know what kind of reporting techniques are involved and how journalists manage to cover those catastrophes?

Write an opinion article about the media coverage of the attack or a profile article about the job of a journalist when a momentous event like that occurs.