When Disaster Strikes at Home: September 11 and Its Aftermath in The New Yorker

When the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. were attacked on September 11, 2001, television covered the unfolding events live. For the first time, a momentous historical event involving the tragic deaths of thousands of people was broadcast in real time, with all the uncertainty as to what the next moment would bring. The Americans had watched the start of the Gulf War of 1991 live as well, but the coverage was monitored by the U.S. military to such an extent that the war appeared to have “no blood, no killing, no dead, no wounded” Weimann 307 . For most Americans, the Gulf War was a “remote conflict” Weimann 313 . As September 11 took place on home ground, shock waves swept through the entire nation, particularly through New York, where the attacks led to the collapse of the Twin Towers in Manhattan. Watching the tragedy on television or witnessing it with their own eyes, New Yorkers initially did not know how to respond Spiegelman “Re: Cover. How It Came to Be”; Updike 28 .