Media & Reactions to 9/11 Terrorist Attacks

EFFECTS OF MASS MEDIA ON PERCEPTIONS OF REALITY: INDIVIDUAL

REACTIONS TO THE SEPTEMBER 2001 TERRORIST ATTACKS IN THE UNITED STATES

The terrorist attacks that occurred in the United States on 11 September 2001 changed the outlook of millions of Americans in relation to their own security, the security of the nation, and their perceptions of the world. The terrorist attacks were horrific enough in their own right; however, the constant replaying of television images of the disintegration of the twin towers of New York's World Trade Center on national television for a period of days in some cases and weeks in other cases tended to (a) reinforce a particular perception of the events of that day or (b) created a media-based reality of the events, depending upon one's analytical understanding of the phenomenon (Roots 503).

There can little doubt about a contention that those people who exposed themselves to the continual barrage of mass media replays of the tragedy were imbued with a particular image of the terrorist attacks and that the mass media dialogs that accompanied the replays reinforced a particular interpretation of the events of 11 September 2001 (Durody and Wessely 1901). The fact that the media behavior created a reality related to the event and reinforced the media interpretation of the event's reality does not infer that the characterization of the event by the mass media was incorrect. It does leave open the possibility, however, that those people w

Related Essays

Fahrenheit 9/11 .... is that major studies by numerous media organizations, including CNN .... Moore's handling of the day of 9/11 is an .... and harken back to their own reactions on that .... (1970 8 )

The Impact of 9/11 on Arab Students .... 7. Do you believe that the media portrays Islam .... students in American universities report mixed reactions to the .... or bias that are linked to the events of 9/11. .... (4327 17 )

CUBAN IMMIGRANTS--RIGHTS AFTER 9/11 .... however, in Ashcroft v. North Jersey Media Group, 303 F .... within Cuba might triggered negative political reactions in the .... New York Law Journal, 9. Castro, L., C .... (5756 23 )

Media Stereotyping & Violence .... institutions but public perceptions and reactions themselves help .... the dominant political, military and media perspective is .... 4), Winter 2000/01, 1-9. Orwell, G .... (2389 10 )

ISSUES FACING MIDDLE EASTERN STUDENTS .... segments of the American population and media (Wilson, 1991 .... in this country and the reactions of these .... Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 9(2), 207 225. .... (7682 31 )

e the polar opposites on the continuum of the theory of emotions. The interactionist model occupies a middle ground on this continuum with recognition of both biological and social factors as causes of emotions, and an assumption that the biological and social factors interact with one another. Collins (223) held that human "cognitive capacity has its strict limits and we can only hold things together because we shy away from questioning our conventional understandings very far. Society holds together as well as it does � because we assume things are normal until they break down so badly we cannot avoid making some kind of repair". Interactionist Paradigm The interactionist paradigm views "social life as a process of interactions among individuals" (Babbie 56). Symbolic interactionism emphasizes connections between shared meanings, or symbols, and actions and communications, or interactions. Social interactionists conceive a families and organizations as social groups, within which individuals develop both their own self-concept and individual identity through social interactions within the group structure. Identity refers to self-meanings in a role. Roles are "shared norms applied by occupants of social positions" (LaRossa

Category: Psychology - M