Filling the 24 × 7 News Hole

In the days following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, all the major television networks devoted their broadcasts to continuous news coverage without commercial interruption. This article analyzes the prime-time broadcasts from ABC, NBC, and CNN over the 3 days from September 12 to 14, 2001. First, the authors ask whether the networks used the additional time to develop longer reports and more sustained treatment of news subjects. Second, the authors consider whether the news coverage provided a meaningful political and historical context for the attacks both in terms of explaining global terrorism and characterizing its geopolitical and military consequences. These observations provide the context for a third theme, that television covered the attacks of 9/11 more like a crime story than a political story. After reviewing the data supporting these conclusions, the authors speculate about the effects of such coverage on public understandings of the events of September 11.