Post-9/11 Coverage of Terrorism in the New York Times

Media coverage of terrorist attacks plays an important role in shaping the public understanding of terrorism. While there have been studies analyzing coverage of incidents prior to 9/11, there has been little research examining post-9/11 coverage. This study fills this gap by examining coverage in the USA between the dates of 12 September, 2001 and 31 December 2015, using a list of terrorist-related incidents to find relevant New York Times articles. This study identifies the variables influencing whether an incident is covered and how much coverage it receives. The results follow a similar pattern to pre-9/11 Times coverage, where most terrorist incidents receive no coverage while a few are sensationalized. Incidents with casualties, Jihadi perpetrators, governmental targets, or firearms are significantly more likely to be covered and receive more news space. Additionally, content analysis suggests that these articles tends to portray Jihadi incidents as international regardless of perpetrator origin.