Media Representations of September 11

by Chermak, Steven M.

• ISBN13: 9780275980443
• ISBN10: 0275980448
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-10-01
• Publisher: PRAEGER AGENCY ACCOUNT

Summary

The terrorist attacks on September 11th were unique and unprecedented in many ways, but the day will stand in our memories particularly because of our ability to watch the spectacle unfold. The blazing towers crumbling into dust, black smoke rising from the Pentagon, the unrecognizable remains of a fourth airplane in a quiet Pennsylvania field--these images, while disturbing and surreal, provide an important vehicle for interdisciplinary dialogue within media studies, showing us how horrific national disasters are depicted in various media. Each contributor to this volume offers a fresh, engaging perspective on how the media transformed the 9/11 crisis into an ideological tour de force, examining why certain readings of these events were preferred, and discussing the significance of those preferred meanings. Yet the contributors do not limit themselves to such standard news mediums such as newspapers and television. This anthology also covers comic books, songs, advertising, Web sites, and other non-traditional media outlets. Using a wide range of interdisciplinary approaches, contributors explore such topics as the amount of time dedicated to coverage, how the attacks were presented in the United States and abroad, how conflicting viewpoints were addressed, and how various artistic outlets dealt with the tragedy. Offering a unique approach to a topic of enduring interest and importance, this volume casts a new light on considerations of that day.

Table of Contents

Series Foreword by Frankie Y. Bailey and Steven Chermak	vii
Chapter 1. Introduction	1	(14)
Part I. Theoretical Overview	15	(68)
Chapter 2. Holy War in the Media: Images of Jihad	17	(12)
John Strawson
Chapter 3. Between Enemies and Traitors: Black Press Coverage of September 11 and the Predicaments of National "Others"	29	(18)
Roopali Mukherjee
Chapter 4. Commodifying September 11: Advertising, Myth, and Hegemony	47	(20)
Christopher P. Campbell
Chapter 5. Rituals of Trauma: How the Media Fabricated September 11	67	(16)
Fritz Breithaupt
Part II. News Texts and Cultural Resonance	83	(76)
Chapter 6. "America under Attack": CNN's Verbal and Visual Framing of September 11	85	(18)
Amy Reynolds and Brooke Barnett
Chapter 7. Internet News Representations of September 11: Archival Impulse in the Age of Information	103	(14)
Michelle Brown, Leia Fuzesi, Kara Kitch, and Crystal Spivey
Chapter 8. Reporting, Remembering, and Reconstructing September 11, 2001	117	(18)
Maggie Wykes
Chapter 9. Creating Memories: Exploring How Narratives Help Define the Memorialization of Tragedy	135	(24)
Kelly R. Damphousse, Kristen S. Hefley, and Brent L. Smith
Part III. Popular Narratives	159	(62)
Chapter 10. Step Aside, Superman ... This Is a Job for [Captain] America! Comic Books and Superheroes Post September 11	161	(14)
Jarret Lovell
Chapter 11.Of Heroes and Superheroer	175	(12)
Amy Kiste Nyberg
Chapter 12. Narrative Reconstruction at Ground Zero	187	(14)
Randy Frances Kandel
Chapter 13. Agony and Art: The Songs of September 11	201	(20)
Mark S. Hamm
Notes	221	(30)
Index	251	(4)
About the Contributors	255