On September 11, 2001, Islamic extremists associated with the international terrorist organization Al Qaeda hijacked four jetliners, driving two into the World Trade Center towers in New York City, one into the Pentagon in Washington, and another into a field in Pennsylvania (the presumed target was the White House). By staggering the attacks on New York in such a way as to ensure the presence of live news coverage, they also managed to hijack the U.S. media for their own propaganda purposes. The attacks became a pure media event, designed with primarily symbolic, rather than strategic, goals in mind. The point was to signify defiance of the global system of power and privilege promoted by the United States. Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden viewed the attacks as a sort of advertisement for jihad. The 9/11 attacks could thus be described as a first salvo in what has become a very long information war, with media systems becoming the key battleground in the global War on Terrorism, and media consumers have become key stakes in these virtual battles. This book is an attempt at 'working through' the mass of televisual data related to the War on Terrorism and identifying points of convergence. It outlines certain patterns of presentation that have emerged from 2001 through 2008 across some of the more recognizable programs and program types. While television as a whole has clearly reproduced key aspects of the political discourse and practice associated with the War on Terrorism, it has also provided opportunities for viewers to process events in new ways. It has even modeled how to do this by entertaining ethical questions and inciting viewers to assume responsibility for resolving them, thus constituting viewers as active witnesses of history, responsible for making sense of what they see and what they can't or won't see. Ultimately, this study aims to remind readers that culture is a complex site of social formation, articulation, and modulation. While it may work on individuals, shaping them into certain types of 'citizens', it may also work through them, affording them an opportunity to transform behavioral and social norms. To determine the outcomes, you have to examine cultural texts in their contexts of production, circulation, and reception. That is what this study aims to do.

Black and white illustrations.