For most of the four days following 9/11, TV viewers around the
world were mesmerized by unthinkable images. Television brought home
to Americans especially the polarizing effects of the post-Cold War world,
including the backlash of Islamic fundamentalism and the imminent threat
of future terrorist attacks. A formulaic narrative quickly emerged; ordinary
police and firefighters took the lead as America’s national heroes, while
Osama bin Laden and the rest of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rose up as villains.
On September 12, 2001, U.S. President George W. Bush gave voice
to this mythic small-screen storyline as “a monumental struggle of good
and evil.” This chapter considers the ways in which television portrayed
the major events of September 11 and its aftermath. It examines Bush’s
main televised responses and the ways his administration’s faith-based
foreign policies were initially framed on TV. Bush’s evangelical Christian
background is examined, as is his subsequent political vision for waging
war on terrorism. Finally, representative telecasts, broader programming
patterns, and general viewing trends during the first six months following
the attacks are surveyed and summarized, as are the longer-term consequences
of framing the global media event of September 11 in terms of
good and evil.

Televising 9/11 and Its Aftermath: The Framing of George W. Bush’s Faith-Based Politics of Good and Evil by Gary R. Edgerton, William B. Hart, and Frances Hassencahl in The Changing Face of Evil in Film and Television.  Ed. Martin F. Norden. Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi, 2007.