"Mourning in America": ritual, redemption, and recovery in news narrative after September 11

This article analyzes coverage of the events of September 11 in 20 issues of American newsmagazines published during the month following the attacks, as well as at the end of the year 2001. Drawing on anthropological and narrative theory, it contends that news coverage contained the elements of a funeral ritual, creating a forum for national mourning and playing a central role in civil religion. It further argues that coverage constructed a cohesive story in which vulnerability and fear were replaced by heroism and patriotic pride. This transformation offers evidence that journalists make sense of even "senseless" news events by placing them within a broader, cultural grand narrative of resilience and progress. By the one-month anniversary of the event, "the story of September 11" had emerged--through a process that involved readers as well as journalists--in American news media, providing a set of lessons and offering closure to a national grieving process.