research review

The Government’s Promotion of National Identity Following September 11

By Jina Son

“September 11, 2001 will never be forgotten. Demonic terrorists took innocent lives. We, the American citizens, must gather our strength and power to stand up against the act of terror. Freedom will have to be protected and promoted by us. After all, freedom is our achievement and hope for all.”

According to John Hutcheson, David Domke, Andre Billeaudeaux, and Phillip Garland, this might be a typical speech given by a government or military leader after the terrorist attacks of September 11. In their Political Communication article “U.S. National Identity, Political Elites, and a Patriotic Press Following September 11,” the authors present two hypotheses. The first hypothesis is that U.S. government and military officials were more likely than ordinary citizens to promote national identity following the attack. The second hypothesis is that U.S. news coverage was more likely to show the perspectives of U.S. government and military officials than the perspectives of ordinary citizens.

The authors analyzed the contents of five different issues of TIME and Newsweek magazines published after September 11. They found that government and military leaders consistently emphasized American core values and themes of U.S. strength. The authors also found that the media’s language of national identity was similar to that of government and military officials’ in their speeches, especially George W. Bush. These findings support both hypotheses.

This research concludes that the government uses a type of language in the media to promote a sense of national identity for public support. One must recognize that it has been getting more difficult to find articles that do not contain government influence.