WORDS have difficulty describing the severity of emotions the American public has experienced over these tragic days. Last Tuesday, most of us sat with our eyes fixed to the hideous images on the television. As horrid and evil as those acts of destruction were, we could not turn away. For the last week, CNN and the other news stations have become permanent institutions in our lives, as footage from Arlington and Lower Manhattan rolled endlessly across the television screen. The news media has an important role in keeping the nation informed about what is arguably the single most important world event of this generation. However, members of the media have been irresponsible in two key facets of the coverage. They have not fully thought out the emotional and psychological impact their coverage has evoked in the public, and they have included an underlying vilification of Muslims in the coverage.
Everyone watched footage of that second plane crash into the World Trade Center like deer frozen in headlights. Time after time, the pictures of a jet disappearing into a ball of flame and debris flashed across the screen. The images have been recorded from every angle and replayed at every speed. The pictures are horrific, yet it was impossible to turn away from our televisions. Day after day, reporters interviewed families of missing New Yorkers, desperately searching for any clue as to the whereabouts of loved ones. Networks would split-screen their coverage, with an interview or press conference coverage on one half, and the gaping hole left by the Pentagon collapse on the other. Similar effects were used to depict the disaster area left on Lower Manhattan Island. By late last week, these images were no longer news. But so many American people watched and watched.
It's no wonder the American people have been stirred to hate and fury. After day after day of constant bombardment with the images and footage of unimaginable catastrophic death and destruction, it is natural to expect a response from the public demanding retaliation.
The attacks have been labeled as acts of war. Many reserves and the National Guard have been activated, and in an act frighteningly similar to the fateful Gulf of Tonkin Resolution of 1964 that escalated the Vietnam War, Congress has once again given the president a blank check for the use of unlimited force in retaliation.
The emotional stimulus of the media coverage has the American public desiring an eye for an eye. Average Americans are going on record on various television interviews with such sentiments as "somebody needs to pay for this," and they are making statements laden with profanities to the effect that retaliation is an appropriate course of action (NBC News, Sept. 14). The destruction of life for any reason is awful, but the devastation seen in this nation last week is evil such as the world rarely has seen. The American people have every right to be furious that these atrocities even could be conceived. A faceless and nameless assailant has violated us in a most frightening manner. But as Mahatma Gandhi once said, "an eye for an eye only makes the whole world go blind."
The news media also has been irresponsible by perpetrating an even greater injustice against the Islamic community in the United States. Immediately following the attacks on the United States, CNN broadcast images of Palestinian youth celebrating in the streets and throwing candy. One shudders to imagine that international opinion might be measured by the behavior of a few 10-year-olds in a nation that has been in conflict with America for decades.
Last Tuesday night, an international correspondent on CNN reported shelling in Karbul, Afghanistan, assuming American military retaliation, without mentioning the status of a multi-year domestic rebellion against the Taliban regime currently in power. American news reporters on Tuesday scrambled all day to examine every imaginable motive for an Arab nation to attack the United States. Many viewers watched on Wednesday morning as various reporters attempted to establish links between Iranian, Pakistani, Palestinian, Saudi Arabian and Afghani ties to organized terrorism. It's curious that the primary commonality between these diverse nations is that each have strong links to the Islamic faith.
Early in the week, the news media had absolutely no evidence whatsoever that might solidly connect a specific nation with the atrocities committed. Sadly, this situation is nothing new to American history. Following the 1996 Cennentenial Park bombing in Atlanta, the news media speculated about Terry Nichols' involvement and thereby wrongfully tarnished his reputation. In a response similar to the one proclaimed in 1996, Arab-American citizens feared the impact of such negative reporting in the minds and hearts of the American public was following a similar course.
The United States will find the responsible parties behind the horror of Sept. 11. Justice will prevail at the hands of people in a rational state of mind. However, the American news media must evaluate its coverage much more thoroughly to anticipate the emotional impact it may be having on the public. For the sake of protecting the innocent, like those killed in Tuesday's atrocities, the media needs to report the news, not guesses, allegations, hypotheses or the hideous images of the attacks themselves. Enough is enough - pray for peace.
(Preston Lloyd's column appears Tuesdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at plloyd@cavalierdaily.com.)
Read More
UPADHYAYA: The Great and not-so-Good sides of U.Va.’s 2030 housing plan
By Apal Upadhyaya | 2 days agoInstead of improving the dire state of existing infrastructure, however, the University has shifted attention away from it and chosen to expand.
EDITORIAL: Support low-barrier shelters in Charlottesville
By Editorial Board | 3 days agoInvesting in low-barrier shelters now will pay off in increased stability for the homeless, which will undoubtedly improve the safety of shelters and the community writ large.
SHRAUGER: McIntire’s three-year model limits opportunities for first-year students
By Alex Shrauger | 5 days agoBy pigeonholing students into commerce so early, the University violates its own mission of providing a holistic education that produces students capable of succeeding in a variety of fields.
