More Than Images: Sept. 11 as a Key Event for Online Media

Was the net going to break down? As soon as the first news of the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 in New York and Washington, D.C., made their rounds, the websites of large news providers experienced a previously unknown user invasion.

Whether CNN, BBC or DW-WORLD.DE, everybody had in a few hours more page hits than they would otherwise get in a whole week. The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 were the first truly global event for which the public used not only television but also the Internet as a major source of information. At least in retrospect, Sept. 11 can be seen as a "Key Event for the Young News Media of Online Journalism," as the title of a study at the University of Leipzig has suggested.

This key event has left traces on the Internet to this day. You can still revisit the Web pages from Sept. 11, 2001 at interactivepublishing.net. The screenshots of news coverage from all over the world reflect the dramatic aspect of the unfolding events. The burning towers of the World Trade Center and continuously updated texts dominated the initial reports. But reporting in real time was just the beginning. Background information, timelines, picture galleries and videos soon complemented the picture of reality.

Letting users choose

It turned out that the online media had something to offer that television and radio could not -- users could namely choose what they wanted to read. The need to know more about the unimaginable events in New York and Washington, D.C. was better satisfied online, or, at least, that was what many users felt, even though the online editors were in no way better informed than their colleagues from radio or TV. After all and despite the live coverage, there were still more questions than answers.

On Sept. 11, this vacuum was quickly filled on the Internet, if not necessarily by the established media. While TV channels all over the world showed endless loops of oppressive images and while the webmasters of large online providers were getting new servers, first eyewitness accounts made it to the Web. New Yorkers who were living in the proximity of the World Trade Center and who happened to be there, described what they saw, thought or simply felt. Calls for help and rumors started making rounds. Online forums developed into news platforms and virtual lists of condolences.

The birth of civic journalism

This had always been the case with the Internet. But only in the exceptional situation of Sept. 11 did these private and often journal-like pages find for the first time their larger even worldwide audience, becoming themselves a topic for reporters to cover. Ever since then, there has been talk about civic journalism beyond CNN.com & Co. The concept of a "Weblog" or "blog" stands for this type of Internet publishing, which emerges outside the framework of a media company and remains, above all, subjective. That is what is so stimulating about it, but also what makes it vulnerable. After all, the Internet also offers a platform for numerous Sept.11 conspiracy theorists.

Nowadays, more than a billion people have Internet access. With Sept. 11 at the latest, the World Wide Web established itself as a mass medium for news and information. But Sept. 11 also marked the point at which users of this medium also became active. Some journalist may see in this a lamentable loss of their power, but people have already decided that they want both.