11th of September 2001, one of the biggest tragedies the world would ever see occurred in the terrorist attacks on the twin towers in New York City. It was an attack involving four coordinated suicide terrorists part of the militant Islamic extremist group Al-queda. The event was broadcast worldwide and continues to affect people to this day, with thousands killed and thousands more injured from the surrounding ash, building collapses, and general destruction all around. Following the tragedy, there was wide coverage in all different types of media - news, film, books - all of which still continues to be seen today. With such a wide range comes a wide range of possibilities for misrepresentation, and a lot followed.
The first media that I will be reviewing is an article from The Sun that followed the attacks. The entire cover features a photo of the twin towers after being hit during the attack with copy along the bottom reading ‘Suicide hijackers blitz America: Special Edition.’ This shows the violence and destruction caused within the attack and uses strong words to allow the reader to encompass what they are reading. The photo along the front being so central and as though it cannot be looked away from shows this is an event that will not be ignored - it will go down historically and should be a warning of the attacks that can and will happen if we allow violence of this type to continue and grow. There is also copy along the top reading ‘The day that changed the world.’ This again shows this to be a major event and will be recognised for decades to come. The cover does not say much, but in the image shown it says all that it needs to say. There is smaller copy along the bottom explaining what had occurred and this allows for some more forward insight.
The New York Times, one the largest newspaper outlets of the US, also came out with this article following the attacks. It shows multiple images that display the catastrophe caused by the event, including the attacks and the events that followed after, such as those who were nearby and affected and those who had to come and help with what had happened. There are subtitles such as ‘A creeping horror’ and ‘President vows to exact punishment for evil’ showing that this is not something that will be taken lightly and the extremity that people are talking of when addressing the attacks. The article is very text based, as to show the amount that is needed to be said about the attacks, but also includes images that catch the eye and allow the reader to catch the whole narrative of what is being shown.
The final media product I will be talking about was an advertisement created by a Texas mattress retailer making light of the attacks to promote their business. This was covered by many news outlets such as ABC, Inside and CNN for making a traumatic, world-changing event into some light comedy for the sake of company promotion. This came only shortly after the attacks which also did not help, and only made those victims of the attacks and families feel awful and possibly undermine what they went through, as now it is being used as a cheap laugh. The owner did not take any accountability for the advertisement, instead blaming the employees. This seems like an advertisement created with the intent of shock value for promotion, but nonetheless is unacceptable, unfunny and cruel. 9/11 was misrepresented but was also used and capitalised off.
留言