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As
the
9/11
terrorist
attack
approaches
its
20th
anniversary,
a
Baldwin
Wallace
University
professor
and
recent
graduate
are
studying
how
two
decades
of
media
coverage
have
changed,
along
with
Americans'
perception
of
the
event.
Back in 2001, Dr. Brian Monahan, a BW professor of sociology and criminal justice, was on the ground in NYC in the early aftermath of 9/11 as a member of a field research team tasked with observing and recording the unfolding events.
As he noted discrepancies between his first-hand observations and media framing of the event (the "first draft of history"), questions about media coverage, cultural trauma and societal change emerged and became a focus of his ongoing research.
Monahan's studies of the resulting symbolism and effect on the American psyche led him to author "The Shock of the News: Media Coverage and the Making of 9/11" (NYU Press, 2010), and he has continued to build on that research ever since.
Monahan
and
spring
BW
graduate
Clara
Mey
'21
are
currently
completing
a
research
project
that
examines
20
years
of
anniversary
coverage
to
see
how
media
frames
have
shifted
or
remained
stable
over
time.
Monahan initiated the research collaboration after Mey expressed an interest in his 9/11 research and a desire to gain research experience of her own.
"I took an interest in this topic after being exposed to media studies research in one of Dr. Monahan's courses and reading his book on my own," Mey explains. "In the fall of 2020, I worked through an independent study course to carry out data collection and analysis to determine how 9/11 media frames and resulting public perceptions have changed and evolved over the course of two decades."
Monahan added, "Our experience highlights the value of BW undergraduate research opportunities. Through independent study, Faculty-Student Collaboration (FSC), Summer Scholars and other programs, students transform classroom lessons into meaningful scholarship that aids in their career development."
In fact, Mey is beginning her first year in the sociology doctoral program at the University of Delaware this fall.
The
research
paper
authored
by
Mey
and
Monahan
was
presented
at
a
national
academic
conference
earlier
this
month
(August
2021),
and
a
research
manuscript
is
being
prepped
for
journal
submission
after
incorporating
the
20th-anniversary
data.
Preliminary findings include waning coverage since the 10th anniversary of 9/11, which accounted for just 17% of all articles in the sample collected from The New York Times. The research also noted changing emotional connections to the attacks over time among reporters and audiences.
"Anniversary coverage analysis also showed that stories about the wars in the Middle East eventually become decoupled from 9/11," Monahan explains. "In other words, 9/11 and the wars began as intertwined issues with deep symbolic ties but eventually came to be covered separately from one another."
Monahan's work and expertise have been featured in many 9/11 stories throughout the years, including USA TODAY, CNN.com, The Associated Press, HealthDay, SpectrumNews1 and The Washington Post.
