THE 9/11 2001 TERRORISTS ATTACKS : THE AFTERMATH ON THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY!

We all seem to have forgotten about the terrorist attacks that shook the United States of America 11 years ago. In honour of those who lost their lives on that fateful day, we have decided to take a look at how it affected the entertainment industry .

In the history of the Entertainment Industry no other event got as much media coverage as the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, television coverage of the terrorist attacks  and their aftermath was the longest uninterrupted news event in the history of U.S. television. The major U.S. broadcast and cable networks were on the air for days with uninterrupted coverage from the moment news first came that the first plane hit the World Trade Center. Millions of shocked television viewers watching live pictures of the World Trade Center saw the second plane hit and both buildings come down. In order to keep up with the constant flood of information, at 10.49 a.m., Fox News Channel began running continuous updates in the form of a news ticker that crawled along the bottom of the screen. This was so well received by viewers that it became a permanent feature on the channel and was adopted by many other news channels

Hijacked United Airlines Flight 175 from Boston crashes into the south tower of the World Trade Center and explodes at 9:03 a.m. on September 11, 2001 in New York City.

In this Sept. 11, 2001 file photo, United Airlines Flight 175 approaches the south tower of the World Trade Center in New York shortly before collision as smoke billows from the north tower.

A COMPARISM BETWEEN THE AMERICAN/WORLD MEDIA COVERAGE OF THE SEPTEMBER 11 2001 TERRORIST ATTACKS AND THE NIGERIAN MEDIA COVERAGE OF TERRORISTS ATTACKS ON UNITED NATIONS BULIDING IN NIGERIA (ABUJA)....Many People of different nationalities died in both attacks ...QUITE SAD

REACTION OF AMERICAN MEDIA ON SEPT 11 2001 TERRORISTS ATTACKS...

• The major cable and satellite television networks in the United States reacted in three different ways: Some networks suspended their program lineup and simulcast the news coverage of their affiliated broadcast networks. Examples include Walt Disney Company-owned ESPN, ESPN2, and SoapNet, which aired coverage from ABC News; Viacom's MTV, VH1, Nick at Nite, BET, and TNN (now Spike), which aired coverage from CBS News (at the time, CBS was owned by Viacom along with the aforementioned cable channels, those of which remain owned by Viacom in the present day); Time Warner networks TBS, TNT, Court TV (now truTV), CNNfn, CNNfyi, and CNNSI, which aired CNN coverage; and News Corporation's Fox Sports Net, FX, Speedvision (now Speed), and OLN (later Versus, now NBC Sports Network, now owned by NBCUniversal), which aired Fox News Channel's coverage. Home Shopping Network, then held by Studios USA, simulcast coverage from Canadian broadcaster CBC's U.S. cable news channel NewsWorld International, a sister network to HSN at the time (now Current TV).

A helicopter flies over the Pentagon in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001 as smoke billows over the building. The Pentagon took a direct, devastating hit from an aircraft and the enduring symbols of American power were evacuated.

• Other networks stopped airing programs altogether; these included Food Network, HGTV, and DIY (all of them are owned by The E.W. Scripps Company), as well as QVC.Still, other outlets continued their regular programming anyway; these included Disney Channel, Cartoon Network, Comedy Central, A&E, The History Channel, Game Show Network (now commonly known as GSN), Sci Fi Channel (now Syfy), and Bravo (the last two networks were not bought by NBCUniversal until 2004, which is a partial explanation for the lack of news coverage).

Photo dated Sept. 11, 2001 shows US President George W. Bush being informed by his chief of staff Andrew Card of the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York during an early morning school reading event in Sarasota, Florida

• In the United Kingdom, BBC, ITV and Channel 4 all suspended their programming for in-depth coverage of the attacks.Smaller broadcast networks also altered their schedules. Affiliates of The WB Television Network simulcast coverage from CNN. In general, the majority of UPN affiliates also carried CBS News' coverage of the events; however, nine of the 10 UPN stations owned by Fox Television Stations Group, including KCOP in Los Angeles and WPWR in Chicago, along with other UPN affiliates that did not air CBS News coverage, aired coverage from Fox News instead (WWOR-TV, based out of Secaucus, New Jersey but serving the New York metropolitan area, provided local coverage). PAX TV (later i: Independent Television, now ION Television) aired coverage from NBC News, which had a close relationship with many of the network's affiliates at the time through news share agreements with local NBC affiliates.

A person falls from the north tower of New York's World Trade Center Tuesday Sept. 11, 2001 after terrorists crashed two hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center and brought down the twin 110-story towers..

In this Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001 file photo, people run from a cloud of debris from the collapse of a World Trade Center tower in New York.

•  The television coverage had far more traumatic effects on children. When asked for her thoughts on the attacks, First Lady Laura Bush responded with a very strong warning to parents: do not let your children see the pictures over and over, especially your young children, but even elementary school-aged children should not be watching it all the time. She felt it was too frightening for them and warned that parents turn off the television so that children do not see the replays over and over again. She gave the very strong warning based on how children reacted to the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. As it turns out, TV networks stopped airing the footage for the most part within a month of the attacks; one news executive told Us magazine that such showings were now more sensational than relevant.

MEDIA COVERAGE OF TERRORISTS ATTACKS IN NIGERIA...Nothing much to say because there was practically none...or so we thought!

The UNITED NATIONS BUILDING IN ABUJA after the bomb blast

• As reported by thewillnigeria.com August 26th 2011 will for a long time to come remain the darkest day in Nigeria’s international history because of the fact that it was on this day that a suspected lone suicide bomber carried out a successful terrorist attack on the premises of the United Nations in Abuja.

• Even as most Nigerians and international observers have expressed sadness over this unfortunate event that portrayed Nigeria in very bad light, some few media observers have passed judgment on what they considered as less than professional coverage of the dastardly incident by the publicly funded Nigerian Television Authority. Simon Kolawole of Thisday and another in-house opinion writer in The Guardian were among the frontline media observers that expressed consternation over the nature of ‘restrictive’ coverage of the terrorism attack of August 26th 2011 in Abuja by the Nigerian Television Authority.

• However Aljazeera borrowed the recording of that dastardly terrorist incident from the Nigerian Television Authority because the logo of the NTA could be seen conspicuously on the screen.

• An authoritative source conversant with the broadcasting industry in the country informed me that the news directorate of the Nigerian Television Authority broke the news of that August 26th 2011 terrorist attack on the United Nations House and the television station kept their viewers updated as events continued to unfold.The reliable source told me that he is in the know that the NTA news directorate deployed their best hands in the news crew which headed to the bombed United Nations office and that the first ever telecast of the event was shown by 12pm news of the Nigerian Television Authority.

• On the allegation that NTA edited out some sensitive scenes of persons killed by the bomb blast, I was informed that it was a deliberate decision not to show images that are emotionally offensive but the catastrophe was shown to the audience of the NTA without fundamentally tinkering with the substance of that unfortunate event by way of over editing.

• There is a strict legal framework regulating media contents of broadcasting stations as stipulated by the National Broadcasting Commission

Specifically, article 3.10 of the Nigerian Broadcasting Code talks about coverage of violence, cruelty, pain and horror. Article 3.10.1 provides that ; “broadcasting is highly susceptible to imitation especially by children. Therefore, the portrayal of violence, cruelty, pain and horror that has the potential of causing moral or psychological harm shall not be broadcast before the watershed time-belt of 9.00pm. The bomb attack occurred around 10 am on August 26th 2011 and all Nigerian Television Stations are obliged by law not to glamorize violence but to report the event nevertheless which it did in the best professional manner.

 Article 3.10.2 of the code provides thus; “A programme portraying excessive pain, physical violence or horror shall not be broadcast, unless relevant to character development or to the advancement of the theme or plot; even so, graphic and gory details shall be avoided”.

• The NTA management in the coverage of terrorism related crime cases has so far complied substantially with extant laws.     

I guess this means PRESS FREEDOM in Nigeria is still a million light dreams away...

TELEVISION AND RADIO TRANSMITTERS WERE DAMAGED IN NEWYORK.. But live updates continued. The transmitter facilities of WPIX as well as six other New York City television stations and several radio stations were destroyed as the WTC collapsed. WPIX's satellite feed froze on the last image received from the WTC mast; the image remained on the screen for much of the day, broadcasting continent-wide, until WPIX was able to set up alternate transmission facilities. Several weeks remained before adequate analog broadcast transmissions resumed.

EVEN HOLLYWOOD WAS AFFECTED..Numerous movies were cancelled that were in production, and many movies were edited. The most common way of editing was to delete or obscure shots of the World Trade Center. There were various reasons given for the alterations, including keeping material up-to-date, as a gesture of respect for those who died, and to avoid trauma for those emotionally affected by the attack. There are also many movies which notably did not edit their films.
In all, roughly 45 films were edited or postponed because of the 9/11 attacks..but our NOLLYWOOD will rather make movies about the disasters and national tragedies..maybe their intention is to tell the story in a format that will be understood by people for generations to come..or the movie director saw an opportunity to make quick cash by exploiting peoples emotions and sentiments...WHATEVER THEIR REASONS ARE..ITS ALL HOME VIDEO..I GUESS!

SOME OF THE EDITED MOVIES ARE:

• Trailers for the movie Spider-Man were edited so a scene (not in the movie) showing Spider-Man capturing a helicopter between the towers was deleted. In the actual movie, a shot of the World Trade Center was deleted. The scene of Spider-Man hanging onto a flagpole with a large American flag, seen in later trailers and at the end of the film, was added in response to the attacks.
• In the movie Zoolander, the WTC was digitally deleted. Oddly enough, a trailer for Zoolander was rolling and was cut into when the first report of the plane crash came up.
• The WTC was removed from the poster for Sidewalks of New York, though the buildings were kept in the film.
• Shots of the WTC in Serendipity were digitally removed.
• In the movie Spy Game, the level of smoke shown following a bombing was reduced because of its similarity to the smoking WTC wreckage.
• The 2002 film Men in Black II featured a climax that included the World Trade Center. The building was changed to the Statue of Liberty.
• Shots of the WTC in Kissing Jessica Stein were removed before its release.
• The ending to the 2002 animated movie Lilo and Stitch was edited from Stitch taking a 747 on a joyride and swerving around buildings, to Stitch taking a spaceship on a joyride and swerving around mountains. The original ending was included on the special edition DVD.
• The action/psychological thriller The Bourne Identity had to be greatly edited due to the involvement of terrorism in the storyline. On the special edition DVD are descriptions of how and why the movie was changed.
• Scenes of the WTC were removed from People I Know.
• Early versions of The Incredibles featured a scene where a frustrated Mr. Incredible vents his emotions on an abandoned building, but ends up accidentally damaging a neighboring building as well. This was considered too reminiscent of the World Trade Center collapse, and was replaced with a scene where Mr. Incredible and Frozone rescue trapped civilians from a burning building.

Some movies were delayed ..

• The release of View from the Top was originally scheduled for Christmas 2001, but due to the fact that the story revolves around a flight attendant on several planes, the release was pushed back to March 21, 2003.

• The release of Arnold Schwarzenegger's Collateral Damage was postponed for four months. The movie featured a terrorist bombing in front of an L.A. building..

Some movies kept scenes of the World Trade Center in them.

• In Vanilla Sky, producers wanted director Cameron Crowe to remove shots of the WTC.[10] He did not, and they remain in the movie.

• In A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, a scene set thousands of years in the future prominently featuring a badly damaged World Trade Center (albeit half submerged in water), was not edited for its video release.

• The film Corky Romano did not have the World Trade Center removed, despite being released in October 2001.

• Both Changing Lanes and World Traveler kept in the buildings.

 A Jackie Chan movie called Nosebleed, about a window washer on the WTC who foils a terrorist plot, was cancelled due to the attacks.

Some filmmakers have added the World Trade Center to films and television series that are set during periods when the buildings were still standing,

• The 2002 TV movie It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie features the twin towers in an alternate reality where an angel shows Kermit the Frog what the world would be like had he never been born.

• The 2003 American miniseries Angels in America, set in 1985, had the WTC towers digitally re-inserted for historical accuracy.

• The 2004 film Miracle, set in 1980, has a digital World Trade Center on the New York skyline.

•  The 2005 film Munich, set in 1973, features a computer-generated World Trade Center.

• The 2005 film Rent, set in 1989 and 1990, includes a shot of the World Trade Center.World Trade Center and United 93 (2006) take place on the day of the attacks and feature the buildings.

• Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008) contains a segment when the animals arrive in New York City, and the original World Trade Center twin towers are seen in the distance.

• The 2009 film Watchmen, which takes place in the mid-1980s, features the twin towers in several of the scenes.

• The 2010 film Remember Me, which has an ending that takes place on September 11, 2001, shows digitally re-built World Trade Centers in the last scene of the movie.

• The episode "Adrift" from the ABC series Lost added the World Trade Center in the second airing of the episode in order to establish the timeframe of the flashback.

• The ABC series Life On Mars, with a storyline that took place in 1973, showed a digitally inserted World Trade Center in several episodes.

• The Fox series Fringe continues to show an intact World Trade Center in a parallel universe. The buildings were revealed in the finale of season one. The season two premiere episode includes exposition that explains that in the parallel universe the 9/11 attacks did not occur (or, at least, the WTC was not destroyed).

SOCIAL NETWORKS, THE INTERNET AND NEWS DISSEMINATION..

• Most mainstream news sites were deluged with traffic on September 11th as users sought out information on the attacks. As a result many sites had to radically alter their layouts. Partly this was done to provide the most efficient means to inform the reader. Emphasis was placed on showing the chronology of the attacks, list statements by President George W. Bush and others, and to give updates to federal closers and responses. All other news stories and sections that once appeared on the sites were temporarily removed as they were irrelevant and most likely not wanted by the reader given the gravity of the 9/11 story. These changes may also have been done to reduce the bandwidth needed to load a page. CNN.com and MSNBC.com all but removed the photos, video, or audio features once heavily featured as a means to cope with the extreme traffic demands placed on their servers. Ads were also largely removed out of respect of the attacks and as a further means to reduce bandwidth demands.

• Over time the news sites returned to a state of normality, but most would go on to feature stories on the attacks and on the resulting War on Terror in sidebars or boxes

• Information technology is changing the face of media practice and journalism in general in the world today and Nigeria is not left behind. The increasing impacts of new media in the dissemination of information have given room to an increase in both professional and amateur journalism

• The Internet has given room to a new form of media freedom in information dissemination that has not been seen some few years ago. Nigerians are able to post information faster than an average journalist could send an article for production

• Although, some Nigerian journalists still regard social networking sites as a place to make friends and meet people, many are using such sites for professional networking in the practice of journalism. In many countries of the world where press freedom is lacking new media has come to the rescue since it often cannot be silenced by draconian government decrees. Journalists have embraced blogging, preferring to upload their stories and pictures online..

MORE PICTURES OF THE SEPTEMBER 11 2001 TERRORIST ATTACKS

A firefighter breaks down after the World Trade Center buildings collapsed September 11, 2001 after two hijacked airplanes slammed into the twin towers in a terrorist attack.

This September 11, 2001 file photo shows Marcy Borders covered in dust as she takes refuge in an office building after one of the World Trade Center towers collapsed in New York. Borders was caught outside on the street as the cloud of smoke and dust enveloped the area. 

A man with a fire extinguisher walks through rubble after the collapse of the first World Trade Center Tower September 11, 2001, in New York. The man was shouting as he walked looking for victims who needed assistance.

Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001 file photo, rubble and ash fill lower Manhattan streets after two hijacked airliners were crashed into the towers of the World Trade Center in New York, collapsing them. (AP Photo/Boudicon One)

The rubble of the World Trade Center smoulders following a terrorist attack Sept. 11, 2001 in New York.

Firefighters raise a U.S. flag at the site of the World Trade Center after two hijacked commercial airliners were flown into the buildings September 11, 2001 in New York.Patriots in the face of adversity

George W. Bush speaks to rescue workers, firefighters and police officers from the rubble of Ground Zero September 14, 2001 in New York City.

MAY THE SOULS OF THE DEPARTED FIND PEACE........WE ALL SAY NO TO TERRORISM.. THIS CALLS FOR SOBER REFLECTION ON THE VALUES WE PLACE ON MATERIAL WEALTH AND THE THINGS WE THINK WE LACK....

Many thanks to the following sites..
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/11/september-11-photos-_n_1869226.html#slide=354660
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_entertainment_affected_by_the_September_11_attacks
http://thewillnigeria.com/opinion/9866-NTA-TERRORISM-AND-MEDIA-COVERAGE.html
http://www.brandworknigeria.com/articlesdetail.php?colid=32&name=Tomi&id=93
http://www.brandcrunch.com.ng/bnrch/index.php/bc-scholars/291-how-new-media-is-affecting-traditional-journalism-in-nigeria