The worldflash of a coming future

Al Qaeda's September 11 terrorist attacks have generated an uncertain interdependency between the terrorists, government officials, and favourable media coverage. This article provides an analytical overview of journalistic debates about the CNN Effect, risk reportage, and the rise of strategic geography as an explicit, normative mode of reportage. It suggests the US media reaction in the transitional three weeks between the September 11 attacks and US retaliation against Afghanistan's Taliban regime was shaped, in part, by mediated trauma and integration propaganda. What really unfolded after September 11 was not the demise of journalism’s elite but rather the renegotiation of reportage boundaries and shared meanings.