September 8, 2002

As the September 11 anniversary of the destruction of the twin towers in New York draws close, an astonishing number of books — up to 150 — is expected to be released, with many more in the pipeline. A number of these books are already in bookstores, and the wide scope of the subjects, at times odd too, range from scholarly books and essays, photographic records, poetry, trauma, tourism and marketing. A high premium is being placed on these publications, as the realization has dawned that informed discussion grounded in facts needs to be replaced by the complacency of the past.

How did this happen? Why do they hate us? In an attempt to answer these questions, and educate the public every possible issue related to the attack is being scrutinized with sobriety and seriousness, and occasionally a little overreaction in the comfort books for the over-anxious population. To understand the deluge of the publications, one must comment on the failure of the American media, especially, television. News had become the weakest link in the mega media corporations controlled by powerful lobbies to be replaced by shallow entertainment. With the paranoia of the cold war in the past, television became the prime media. It chose the easy way out, by pandering to the rising trend of feel-good shows and the vulgar reality shows, instead of providing serious news coverage to world issues.

In the introduction to September 11, 2001, a collection of newspaper front pages, selected by the Poynter Institute, Florida, Max Frankel points out, “Pressed to show a profit, they (media corporations) largely withdrew from the world and treated five billion people beyond our borders as inconsequential and irrelevant.” This jolt to the journalistic community led to a soul-searching and reassertion of their true calling. News became a priority and took precedence over the commercial interests of the advertisers and investors. But a year later, a quote from an article in the Chicago Tribune sums up this shaky effort to make the average American more receptive to world issues.

“How sad that we weren’t able to keep all of those fiercely wrought promises to ,,, become a nation of self-sacrificing patriots who keep a keenly persistent eye on international politics.”

This promise has not been kept because television still reigns. Despite an intense year-long debate, the entire American media, from ABC, NBC, FOX, MSNBC, CNBC to CNN, never really bit the bullet. Biased reporting aside, the mantle of patriotism donned by the media, the inability to hear out a dissenting opinion, the half-baked theories and an embarrassing lack of understanding has eroded the credibility and sanctity of the media. The media sets the tone and the government takes up from there. However, the recent editorials to exercise caution against the attack on Iraq, indicates that the print media is reworking its policies.

But most TV anchors, or more rightly, talking heads, still slam the words right into the mouth of a guest the minute s/he begins to dissent. The time given to each guest is barely a couple of minutes. How can one even begin to analyze, formulate an argument or propose a theory about matters of such import as war, terrorism and the plight of a ravaged Afghanistan or a belligerent Iraq.

An instantaneous and gratifying answer to the question, “Why do they hate us?” had to be provided to a people weaned on quick-fix answers. President Bush provided the answer. It is for what we stand, freedom, justice, et al. The media lapped it up but the puzzling flicker of the query does not go.

The media nannies are hell-bent on nursing the stupor right back into the people. A TV anchor quips, “I like short answers!” when an ‘expert’ on the TV show says he cannot provide details in the given time-span. The most horrifying aspect in this media circus on television is the facade peeling off the anchors. One would think they do their homework before they face the cameras. In the wake of the tragedy, there were questions flying across about Islam like fireworks gone awry. The crisis has unearthed all kinds of experts from religion to terrorism. The real scholars, liberals and intellectuals keep their distance from the television, and write for reputed journals. Unfortunately, the masses get to hear only the soundbytes.

Thus, this huge niche has been created post-September 11 for hard facts. Noam Chomsky’s 911 or John Esposito’s Unholy war: terror in the name of Islam and David Halberstam’s Firehouse and Bernard Lewis What went wrong? about Islam have had substantial sales.

Chomsky had forewarned about the soft underbelly of the nation and been a vociferous critic of foreign policy always. Now he should have more people listening. Esposito’s book gives an insight into the issues that breed radicalism and is written primarily for people grappling with questions about Islam. He pares down to very basic facts along with learned commentary about Islam, jihad, the modern terrorist, etc. Another book How did this happen: terrorism and the new war edited by James F. Hoge, editor of Foreign Affairs and Gideon Rose is a collection of essays by eminent scholars such as the morass in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia’s double game, US military to Islam through history. Fareed Zakaria, editor of Newsweek International, writes in an essay that, “the heart of the new order was global capitalism. What we are likely to see over the next decade is the return of politics, the return of culture, the return of government, and perhaps even the return of History.”

Life’s One nation America documents in photographs the towers exploding and collapsing, factoids, the people and professionals who came together that day with an introduction by Rudolph Guiliani, New York’s mayor. However, the photographs and stories within stories of victims (leading newspapers carried for days photographs and profiles of victims) brings to mind the faceless death of the people in the rest of the world. Another photographic tribute by Magnum Photographers, New York has articles by the photographers as witnesses. Thomas Hoepker comments about the loss of “visual integrity, people are faking images left and right. They’re changing what’s in the pictures. So the public has lost the sense that a photo is a proof and a document. They see it as an illustration, as entertainment. We have lost our innocence, and we have lost our sense of what’s morally right with photographs”.

This loss of innocence on September 11 was dealt a different kind of blow. It was time to take stock of things, call a spade, a spade. Time to brush up on geography, follow international politics, and read up on every conceivable subject related to September 11.

Though the 150 odd books make a good beginning, but when the baton is passed to the media, will they deliver news as its “proudest product” , especially to the news averse 18 to 34-year-old Americans? Also, will the average American already weary with the post-September coverage read these books? Sales and time will tell.

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