9/11 turned into media drama more than objective news

Carol Forsloff -  A sociologist at Iowa State University examines the events of 9/11 as a backdrop for current responses and discussions and tells us this is part of a public media drama that requires our caution. 

The media attention on 9/11 encouraged, supported, and maintained consistent stories related to 9/11, so that it conjures up specific images and feelings associated with that date, according to Iowa State University Assistant Professor of Sociology Brian Monahan.    Hear the numbers "9/11" and the burning World Trade Towers becomes one of those images, along with people screaming and running or standing in disbelief.

The way the media covered the events of 9/11 transformed the occasion to a public drama that keeps being fed by ongoing events, no matter when they occur.  They relate back to the date within the setting of a scripted presentation, because the media provided the situation to develop the continuing drama. 

Monahan maintains "9/11" is now a potent political symbol that continues to be used today.  It is one of a number of public dramas that has been put together by the media from the events eventually forming its core, to the ongoing events that keeps it ever-present and unfolding.

 "The Shock of the News: Media Coverage and the Making of 9/11" (March 2010, New York University Press), which went on sale earlier this year is a book Monahan wrote that details the narrative of 9/11 as assembled by the media.

Monahan looks at the current arguments about Ground Zero, the debates about the proposed mosque near the place where airplane bombs destroyed the World Trade Towers, and how discussions of memorials and what can or cannot be done is part of that media-impacted drama.

"'9/11' has become a kind of symbolic shorthand," said Monahan, who also serves on the faculty of Iowa State's criminal justice program."If someone says '9/11' in relation to matters of domestic policy, social control or foreign affairs, the audience can immediately draw on our shared understanding of 9/11 and we know what they are talking about is serious and demands our attention and concern. This obviously makes 9/11 a valuable resource for elected officials and other public figures who look to gain support for a particular policy or agenda by creating a linkage to 9/11."

Monahan defines a "public drama" is the construction of an event presented in a specific format the media uses to present news of a highly dramatic nature and sustains its emotional impact

According to Monahan's book the media format has special characters, a plot, uniquely described settings, dramatic and story elements.  It becomes more a story than a news piece.

."Making a public drama requires more than just grizzly details or human interest," he said. "It's got to be a story with suspense and intrigue and plot developments and characters fully developed.

"The audience has to care about what is being presented; they need to feel an emotional or psychological connection with the plot or the characters," he continued. "So it's not quite just as voyeuristic as simple human interest would imply. It's more immersive."

Monahan examined the media coverage carefully in order to form his conclusions about how 9/11 became a public drama for political uses.

"I'd say the two challenges [in writing the book] were one, making sense of history as it was unfolding; and two, digging in to the most covered event in the media age and finding a representative way to go through that," Monahan said. "And essentially, I turned to previous research on most major events and found that people turn to television first. Eventually, television can only offer so much depth to the coverage -- whether it be for time, narrative or format constraints -- and so people turn to other sources; in this case, print and online news articles."

The objective news story became a morality-based play, capturing events the way a story with the recitation of events in the sort of narrative that holds the reader's interest, has heroes and villains and patriotism as its theme.  People lose the facts as they are caught up in the story instead. 

"The emphasis on creating an entertaining story with a titillating plot requires an unfortunate trade-off in which a balanced assessment of the policy implications of an issue, or the causes or consequences of an event often gets cast aside in favor of a non-complex narrative that will appeal to the audience," he said. "As a result, the public ends up with an overly simplistic and often skewed understanding of what has happened, why it has happened and what should be done in response."

So what should people do to avoid being sold "tickets" for a drama as opposed to reading objective material that allows for mature thinking and decision-making?  Since the media often uses the public drama format, Monahan suggests people know that and become more critical in their consumption of news so that the story doesn't have a life separate from what may be the facts.