The CNN Effect

Social and cultural aspects play a significant role in the media’s unflattering depiction of Islamic extremists, which correlates directly to military spending and relations with the Middle East. Since 9/11, when Arabs attacked the U.S. on behalf of Afghan Islamic extremists, relations with the Middle East have been tense, according to Thomas Kean and others in "National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States” from the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. Kean and others report that repercussions of the 9/11 attacks included homeland security improvements. Dov S. Zakheim, former U.S. Undersecretary of Defense and Chief Financial Officer, similarly discussed that relations worsened after 9/11 in "September 11: A Decade Later What 9/11 Has Wrought”, which details the effects

Events of the new millennium irreversibly changed the direction of American foreign policy. During the 1990s, Anti-American sentiments burgeoned in the Middle East within growing radical Islamist groups that perceived America as empirical and expansionist after the prolonged US occupation of Muslim holy sites in Saudi Arabia after the end of the first gulf war. The September 11th attack on the Twin Towers, once representative of American military and economic hegemony, symbolized to many a political failure that would change the focus of American national interest for years to come.

The 9/11 terrorist attacks transformed America’s outlook on foreign policy. The attacks redirected the policy from containment of the Soviets during the Cold War about a decade prior, to one against terrorism, a so-called “war on terrorism.” The U.S. government attacked and overthrew the Talib government in return, destroying Al Qaeda’s Afghan bases. They turned their attention to Iraq and invaded it to remove any threat of weapons of mass destruction in spite of opposition from France, Germany, and Russia. The supporters and opposers of the war created new strains within the members of the NATO alliance.

The attacks on September 11, 2001 by international terrorist that destroyed the twin towers brought a new American culture of policy change on international terrorism. At first there was a unilateral war on terror and hardening of the United States national borders. The drastic measures ranged from tightening airport security to creating a new governmental Department of Homeland Security with an almost limitless money basis (Anderson, 2003). International cooperation on the war on terror as President Bush adopted a unilateral approach to strike and invade Iraq (United States Code 22 Section 2656F(d) 2013). The assumption of a global terrorism ring brought in a shift around the world to the risk of being attacked. The United States bore the

The shock of September 11 was communal to all those in the United States. No one specific individual could have assumed that a disastrous event like the crashing of the twin towers would have transpired. With the aid of the media the American population received every detail of the manifestation in entirety. To the nation this event was so catastrophic that cities and corporations shut down. New York, Washington, and other major cities closed down. The government, businesses, airlines, amusement parks, recreational events, and restaurants even closed or postponed the events planned. This incidence was so astonishing to the nation that Wall Street and the Stock Market even shut down for several days. The nation was in great distress and the media swooped in to take hold of their perfect opportunity to contort the information reported to the American people.

In the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, former President George W. Bush gave a speech that resonated with millions of people. “America was targeted for attack because we 're the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world,” said Bush. This rhetoric became a popular opinion which still lasts today. However, it is misleading. The true events that produced the 9/11 attacks are not realized by most Americans. In reality, the September 11th terrorist attacks were a product of the history of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, particularly regarding the covert operations enacted during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

The terrorist attack on 9/11 rattled the nation. In the immediate aftermath of the attack, it was entirely necessary for a resonant response by the United States to show that the country does not stand for such blatant disregard of human life. With the benefit of hindsight, it is now possible to look back and discern what factors drove the changes that were made to foreign and domestic policy as a direct result of the 9/11 attacks. Ultimately, both policy changes were emotionally driven, but it appears quite clear that the domestic response was largely anxiety driven, while the foreign policy response was dominated by anger and a desire for

September 11, 2001 is a day that will forever live in every American’s mind. The terrorist attack that took nearly 3,000 lives was highly publicized, many channels played live footage of New York City as the Twin Towers were attacked. Watching the violence firsthand caused people across the nation to become incredibly invested in what had occurred. Americans felt violated; The notion of safety and freedom at home was wrenched away the moment that American Airlines flight 11 crashed into the North Tower. Unsettled and confused people across America utilized the new resources offered to them through the rising digital age, and consumed every bit of information shared on the attacks in an attempt to make sense of such a seemingly senseless act of violence. Internet usage skyrocketed in the week following the attack, numbers rose from 6 million visitors to news sites a day to 11.7 million (Glass, 2008). Many television channels offered “‘wall to wall’ coverage” for 90 hours during and after the attacks (Denton, 2004). Media outlets served as the most direct form of information for most Americans following the attack, and as such they garnered much control over how the situation was interpreted by their audience. This lead to many networks attempting to be more careful about how they presented the news, worrying about everything from the implications of wearing “flag pins and ribbons” during broadcasts to the terminology used to refer to the attackers (Denton, 2004). While they

During the Cold War and the War on Terror, the United States of America used the media to depict Soviet and Middle Eastern people as foreign enemies that posed a threat to U.S. national security. The bombing of the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001 changed the lives of millions of Muslims forever because they began to be targeted by U.S. media corporations. Media corporations started to depict Muslims in the Middle East as terrorists to persuade the American public to wage the War on Terror in the Middle East in order to stop the spread of terrorism and homeland threats, like 9/11, from occurring again. However, even though media corporations portrayed the War on Terror as a justification to defeat terrorism and to protect the

As a growing majority of middle class families fall victim to the economic devastation of the Great Recession, suffering from prolonged unemployment, depleted job markets and a rising cost of living, the threat of potential terrorist attacks striking America and its interests seems to have faded into the proverbial background of our collective consciousness. With a transfer of power from the hawkish Bush Administration to President Obama and his more diplomatic approach, major media outlets in print, on television and in the blogosphere, which just a few years ago regaled with patriotic fervor while espousing the possible peril awaiting the nation, have all but abandoned their coverage of terrorist activity. This reversal in focus by both individuals and institutions may simply be a natural response to the reduced capabilities of al-Qaeda and other terrorist networks, as confirmed by the leading authority on terrorism and its effects, and national security analyst for the CNN network, Peter Bergen, who observed recently that "the Obama administration has played a large role in reducing terrorist threats by continuing and scaling up many of former President George W. Bush's counter-terrorist methods" (Bennetch 1).

Everyone can remember, vividly in their mind, where they were on September 11th, 2001. Fourteen years later, and even though I was in third grade, at the time, I clearly remember the day. The September 11th attacks (9/11) were a series of coordinated terrorist attacks which targeted symbolic United States’ landmarks. Islamic terrorist group, al-Qaeda, hijacked planes and crashed them into these landmarks- The World Trade Center’s Twin Towers and The Pentagon being two of the biggest. These events left almost three thousand people dead. It is a tragic day, which we solemnly reflect on every year (History.com Staff 1). The details and the attack, itself, are shocking and devastating. However, with every day in age, what tends to be most striking, is how the media handled the event and how the media landscape was transformed.

News providers seem to be much divided as far as what they report and how they report it. However, there is no definite answer to the question of biasness among news channels such as Fox News and the Cable News Network (CNN). This is because an individual who is more liberal than Fox is likely to consider it a conservative bias while an individual who is more conservative than CNN is likely to consider it a liberal bias. As a result of the polarization in the major media broadcasts, people are divided and unclear where the truth lies. For instance, conservatives and liberals occupy diverse worlds when it comes to getting news about politics and government; therefore exacerbating the partisan divide of how people view their government and political leaders. This polarization extends from the media preferences to the basic lives of people including their different opinions and views. Conservatives and liberals are more likely to interrelate with like-minded individuals while discussing politics with their comrades or even congregate online (Prior, 2013).

Citizens of the United States vary vastly. The exposure to media, however, is one common thread that connects the majority of the population. We trust popular news outlets to portray information we need or want to know, but do these stations always deliver it the same? CNN and Fox are two dominant forces in today's media driven society, but these two juggernauts often differ in coverage on many current prominent issues.

September 11th changed the lives of many Americans, irrevocably. The horrendous attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon altered the way American’s viewed their positions within the world, not to mention their lives and their safety. The attacks brought terrorism to the forefront of national attention, in every aspect. The government became immediately immersed in an effort to understand and defeat terrorism, and simultaneously, the media, with its perverse fascination with violence and profit-driven espousal to round-the-clock, up-to-the-minute coverage, demonstrated an obsession with the attacks, by broadcasting almost nothing but the latest developments in the search and rescue efforts and investigations

“A lie told once remains a lie but a lie told a thousand times becomes the truth” – Joseph Goebbels, German Reich Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. This is the exact words of Nazis most famous propagandist in using media as a mass weapon of propaganda and mind control. Could you imagine Germany in 1930s, without Television channel, without the Internet, without every mobile device in your palm, what channel of information will you get? Of course, newspapers, flies, images, celebrities were used as tools for propaganda purposes, designed to provoke a reaction, and ultimately, a form of control over their citizen. Nowadays, with all the advanced of technologies, information can reach everyone in every corner of the Earth, the message is delivered in the subtlest ways, without people’s conscious, has shaped everyone’s decision, or at least shape their behavior toward the decision that the orchestrator want the audience to perceive. With the booming of internet, information sharing seamlessly, we must ask ourselves, the role of media in conveying, shaping the society that we are living in. Let look at few examples of U.S propaganda machine, and later, the particular case of fish sauce in Viet Nam back in October 2016.