Throughout the world, the mass media are responsible for shaping the form and content of experiences. In this book, David L. Altheide examines how the mass media, including news and popular culture, have cast terrorism, propaganda and social control post 9/11. Altheide shows how fear works with terrorism to alter discourse, social meanings, and our sense of being in the world. Emphasis is placed on the different institutional interventions and how these particular stories become framed and inform the wider media narratives of terror. The author argues that post 9/11 we are witnessing the emergence of new communication formats that not only constitute counter-narratives, but also shape future communicative experience. The text is suitable for scholars and students interested in the ongoing relationship between the media and terror post 9/11.

The Oklahoma City bombing, intentional crashing of airliners on September 11, 2001, and anthrax attacks in the fall of 2001 have made Americans acutely aware of the impacts of terrorism. These events and continued threats of terrorism have raised questions about the impact on the psychological health of the nation and how well the public health infrastructure is able to meet the psychological needs that will likely result. Preparing for the Psychological Consequences of Terrorism highlights some of the critical issues in responding to the psychological needs that result from terrorism and provides possible options for intervention. The committee offers an example for a public health strategy that may serve as a base from which plans to prevent and respond to the psychological consequences of a variety of terrorism events can be formulated. The report includes recommendations for the training and education of service providers, ensuring appropriate guidelines for the protection of service providers, and developing public health surveillance for preevent, event, and postevent factors related to psychological consequences.

How Did the World¡ ̄s News Media React to 9/11? Not surprisingly, most of the world¡ ̄s news media criticized the terrorists and offered sympathy and support to the United States in the days right after the September 11, 2001, attacks. But this phase didn¡ ̄t last long. With a week or two, many of the world¡ ̄s news media, even some in Western countries, were putting some of the blame for the attacks on the United States, citing its history of heavy-handed politics around the world. Many hoped the attacks would ¡°wake up¡± the United States to this fact. But the subsequent U.S.-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq dashed these hopes. Today, much of the sympathy and support generated from the tragedy has dissipated ¡a replaced, instead, by a widespread belief that political leadership in the United States is more arrogant, intransigent and self-absorbed than ever. This is the major theme of How the World¡ ̄s News Media Reacted to 9/11, which contains 22 chapters, written by scholars and experts from around the world, that examine news media coverage of 9/11 from more than two dozen countries. The ¡°arrogance¡± theme isn¡ ̄t one that many U.S. politicians, journalists and citizens want to hear. But it¡ ̄s the message that the world¡ ̄s news media have been sending, and the question now is: Will U.S. media and politicians listen? Other key highlights in this book: ¡ñ American TV news channel news executives deliberately excluded controversial U.S. guests and opinions from their news coverage of 9/11 (Chapter 20). ¡ñ Media in Australia, Canada and other countries demonized Muslims and Arabs after 9/11 (Chapters 18 and 21). ¡ñ Ordinary Arabs and Muslims in the Middle East have distorted views of the United States, partly because their media do not provide all of the facts (Chapter 15), but Americans, too, misunderstand Muslims and Arabs, because U.S. media have failed to help Americans understand why much of the world hates their political leadership (numerous chapters).

This book explores the impact of media in these times of conflict and terrorism. It provides an assessment of the extent the media have exacerbated or ameliorated conflict and terrorism in Asia. It also reviews whether they have fostered balance over bias, communication over confrontation, and insight over ignorance in addressing these critical issues. In the wake of Washington's post-911 declaration of war against terrorism, many media outlets have been accused of fuelling a culture of fear and blame around the world. This book brings together the experience of media practitioners and commentators from the region to bring their valuable perspectives to bear on the issue of our time. READERSHIP: University lecturers, researchers, academics, practitioners, and those interested in the fields of media and communication and terrorism studies.

Terrorism now dominates the headlines across the world-from New York to Kabul. Framing Terrorism argues that the headlines matter as much as the act, in political terms. Widely publicized terrorist incidents leave an imprint upon public opinion, muzzle the "watchdog" role of journalists and promote a general one-of-us consensus supporting security forces.

The Selling of 9/11 argues that the marketing and commodification of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, reveal the contradictory processes by which consumers in the United States (and around the world) use, communicate, and construct national identity and their sense of national belonging through cultural and symbolic goods. Contributors illuminate these processes and make important connections between myths of nation, practices of mourning, theories of trauma, and the politics of post-9/11 consumer culture. Their essays take critical stock of the role that consumer goods, media and press outlets, commercial advertising, marketers and corporate public relations have played in shaping cultural memory of a national tragedy.

9/11, the War on Terror, and the Sociology of Mass Media explores the cultural and political impact of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, with particular emphasis on the media's role in constructing meanings in the wake of the tragedy. The carefully selected readings within this anthology tell the story of how 9/11 was "created"--that is, how the story of the event was told, and how it was not told. In providing students with a comprehensive overview of the various narratives constructed in the aftermath of a defining moment in U.S. history, the book sheds light on how government and media can shape stories, and how those stories contribute to our social reality. The book begins with a selection of articles and chapters that offer students a thorough explanation of the attacks themselves, as well as the effects they had on politics and other official publics. The readings in Part 2 of the text explore society's reaction to 9/11 and the wars it produced, with emphasis on the response of popular culture. Part 3 provides an understanding of the social and historical reasons as to why the attacks happened, both from the perspective of U.S. foreign policy and the terrorists who enacted the attack. The anthology closes with a section that takes a look at the lasting effects of the attacks, exploring cultural impact and the changing landscape of terrorist threats. By encouraging students to rationally explore and ask questions about an event that many feel they've been unable to examine critically before, 9/11, the War on Terror, and the Sociology of Mass Media allows them to exercise their citizenship, nationally and globally. This anthology is well suited for intermediate courses in the sociology of mass media and mass communication, as well as courses in terrorism and cultural sociology. Nickie Michaud Wild is a visiting assistant professor/lecturer of sociology at Mount Holyoke College. She earned her master's and doctorate degrees in sociology from the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee and the University at Albany, State University of New York, respectively. Dr. Michaud Wild is a faculty fellow at the Yale Center for Cultural Sociology. She has published articles about political humor in the American Journal of Cultural Sociology and the Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, and is currently working on a writing project about how comedy has become an increasingly integral part of the United States' political discourse.