How Would Today's Media Cover 9/11?

If the September 11, 2001 attacks happened today, the world may very well end.

I’m not saying that to be hyperbolic. I’m saying that because our media is not prepared to handle an event of that magnitude.

Recently, I wrote about Peter Jennings’ performance on that awful Tuesday morning and how magnificently he handled himself. There was no discussion of conspiracy theories or revenge. He was a news man presenting the facts of what was happening, such as what Walter Cronkite had done for America when JFK was assassinated.

If that happened today, I fear we’d have Chuck Todd on-air within two hours talking about the political impact on President Trump’s immigration agenda. Our media is not ready because it’s broken, and our leaders are broken because of it.

Too Partisan

The most obvious problem about 9/11 coverage in 2019 is the fact news organizations are too partisan. Instead of spending on an army of fact-based reporters to interview on-air, the bulk of the news pundits are partisan hacks with an agenda. Whether it’s left or right, they weren’t hired for their neutrality – they were hired for their specific point of view

In time of tragedy, these views don’t really mean anything. We’ve already seen this in action recently, when the attempted CNN terrorist was sending bombs to newsrooms. There were people on the left trying to immediately blame Trump (of course they were right) which necessitated people on the right to default to defend Trump, and we never really discussed the fact the domestic terrorism had taken place. Do you even remember this happening?

This process was repeated after the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, where an obviously deranged man inspired by President Trump killed people. If you have someone on-air paid to support Donald Trump, how is that person going to properly analyze that situation?

Too Fast

Things move very quickly in the wake of a tragedy and today’s news media can’t keep up. During the morning of 9/11, Peter Jennings was extremely cautious to not present any information before it had been 100% verified.

I know this personally because Flight 93, which ended up being taken down in Pennsylvania, was headed to Washington, D.C. The scariest part of that entire day, for me personally, was my college roommate saying, “That plane isn’t making it to the Capitol or the White House.” In a DC apartment building about 6 blocks away, we knew what he meant.

So, when Peter Jennings gave the initial update on Flight 93 being down, he couched it several times with “unconfirmed reports” to let us know this wasn’t 100% confirmed yet but he had to share that information. It was the type of cautious, precise journalism that is missing.

Today’s coverage of attacks or tragedies is overwhelmed by reporters jumping reports based on social media chatter. When they’re wrong, they cast doubt on everything they say. People read unsubstantiated rumors on Twitter and start running with them, aided by journalists fueling these rumors.

People on Twitter can say or write whatever they want. Our journalists need to rise above that. They haven’t. They won’t.

Too Much Hate

If 9/11 happened tomorrow, what do you think Donald Trump’s reaction would be? How do you think Republicans would react? And how do you think the media would share those messages?

In the wake of 9/11, there was a huge, concerted effort by everyone involved to not blame all Muslims or all Middle Easterners for the act of few. It seems like I’m writing about something that happened in a different lifetime. In many ways, it was.

Think about it, the Republican President gave a speech telling us Islam is a religion of love days after 1000s of Americans had been killed by Muslims. For all the bad that George W. Bush did after that, I never felt bad about my 2000 vote* because of that speech. He was the leader we needed at that moment. I’m grateful he said that.

*my 2004 vote is a different story…

Is there any doubt that Trump and his cronies would instantly go into racist, inflammatory rhetoric? We’ve already seen Trump do this for the most minor of incidents, such as the racist Covington kids being covered as racist. He lost his mind over that. If a thousand Americans were killed by terrorists, what would he do?

While that terrifying thought should prevent you from sleeping at night, think about how the media would cover the President’s racism in the wake of that. They love sharing his racism on a daily basis, almost unchecked, by retweeting him or debating his nonsense.

I don’t have a good way to end this post because, honestly, it scares the shit out of me. Our media has failed us for three years straight under Trump. They treat the news of him breaking the law like it’s a normal, page 3 story. There’s no oversight. There’s no pushback. There’s no independent thinking.

If 9/11 happened tomorrow, Trump would spew racism, our media would debate it and then a massive war would start within the week.

Maybe we should be thankful for W?

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